Welcome to another episode of our Design Biz Live series with Corey Klassen and Judith Neary! Today, Corey and Judith will be discussing five fatal errors that people tend to make in their businesses. Judith and Corey run their own design firms and they have both had years of experience in the design industry, so they know what it takes to create a successful business, and they understand what you need to do to avoid the pitfalls. Listen in today, to get their expert advice.

Corey is the owner of Corey Klassen Interior design, based in Vancouver. He provides professional interior design services for residential and commercial interior design projects while specializing in high-end kitchen and bath projects. Judith owns Roadside Attraction Design Studio, based in Vashon Island, Washington. She provides professional design services for kitchens, baths, and other fun living spaces. Tune in now, to find out how to avoid making these five fatal errors in your interior design business.

Show Highlights:

• Judith talks about making the first fatal error- basing business models on demographics.
• Your profit margin comes from how you do your business.
• It’s all about product, people, and place.
• The peril of making a value call, or a judgment about someone, without first engaging with them.
• Lead from selling in alignment with your business goals.
• Being clear with your clients about what you will do and what you will not do.
• Finding the right clients based on a psychographic rather than on a demographic.
• Sometimes it’s okay to do things for the greater good even though you’re not being paid for it.
• Being clear in your communication will be your biggest asset.
• The difference between a customer and a client.
• It’s not about what you like. It’s about what your client likes.
• A true design professional will recommend rather than offer their advice or opinion.
• You need to know your capacity and your capability.
• Internalizing your external values with a code of ethics for yourself, for your contractors, and your clients.

Links:

Goodies Link: Luann Nigara

Corey’s Website: Corey Klassen

Judith’s Website: Road Side Attraction Studio

Welcome! Today, we’re delighted to introduce you to Dennis Scully, the host of the Business of Home Podcast where each week, he interviews interior design industry thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and creatives, to explore the changes and the challenges faced by the design community. In today’s episode, Dennis and LuAnn talk tech. They discuss the way that technology is changing how business is done, and the adaptions that we have to consider making in our businesses. We all need to grow, innovate, and figure out new ways to make money and be profitable, so listen in today, to find out what Dennis has to share about the shifts that are happening within our industry.

The Business of Home Podcast is a production of Business of Home which, for the past ten years, has been the leading publication covering the home industry, delivering essential business news, analysis and insights to a dedicated readership of interior design professionals, including residential, contract and hospitality designers, retailers, makers and manufacturers, executives and entrepreneurs. With a career in marketing, advertising, and business development in the home furnishings space that spans more than 20 years, Dennis has helped some of the finest companies in the industry to manage their teams and grow their brands. Tune in now, to find out how to lean into the changes that are coming.

Show Highlights:

• Technology is changing everything!
• The design industry is adjusting to what today’s customer is looking for.
• Dennis shares one of his core beliefs.
• People are more excited about design right now than ever before.
• You need to think about what you’re bringing to your clients that they cannot get online.
• Designers today have to work even harder at educating their would-be clients about their talents and value.
• The undeniable issue around technology is the impact that it’s going to have on all our lives and all of our businesses. So we need to figure out how we are going to deal with it.
• The incredible new workspace that Kravet has created to support the way that designers are now doing their business.
• Learning to run with the way that technology is going.
• It’s worth experimenting with new and improved ways of doing things.
• It’s challenging today to know where and how to put your message forward.
• Material Bank is a great example of a company that has taken the initiative to change with the times.
• Designers have not yet made the complete shift into the world of e-commerce.
• Designers need to understand that although there are pros and cons to technology, it is here, and it’s going to keep coming our way with more innovations, at an ever-increasing pace.
• You, as a designer, need to know who you are, and you need to be confident with your skills and keep on honing them.
• Learning to lean into the changes that are coming.
• Things are shifting so quickly that if you don’t keep up with the change you will end up going backward.

Bio:

Dennis Scully is the host of the weekly BOH podcast, where he explores the changes and challenges facing the interior design community through interviews with industry thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and creatives. He is also the vice president of sales and marketing at luxury textiles company Castel.

With a marketing, advertising, and business development career in the home furnishings space that spans more than 20 years, Scully has helped some of the finest companies in the industry to manage their teams and grow their brands.

After wrapping up his tenure as the President of the luxury custom upholstery company Avery Boardman, Dennis returned to Business of Home, where he had previously served as the V.P. of Business Development.  This time it was to launch a new column for the site, Market Report, based on Scully’s financial insights, as well as a business-focused podcast, Business of Home.

Dennis began his career in the homeworld running a small retail advertising agency that created branding and marketing campaigns for many of New York’s great furniture retailers of the day.  As the grandson of the founders of Scully & Scully on Park Avenue, New York retail was a world he knew well.

He later joined the luxury kitchen and bath company Waterworks, ultimately serving as the New York Director of Sales and Marketing.  From there he landed a job at Condé Nast, joining the launch team of Domino Magazine as its Home Furnishing Director.

Dennis worked with the luxury textile brand Twill as Sales and Marketing Director, and he later worked with the Chicago-based interior designer who founded Twill, Suzanne Lovell.

He joined Castel in May of 2018 to help them launch their first-ever flagship showroom in New York City’s famed D&D Building.

Business of Home:

For 10 years, Business of Home has been the leading publication covering the home industry, delivering essential business news, analysis and insights to a dedicated readership of interior design professionals—residential, contract and hospitality designers, retailers, makers and manufacturers, executives and entrepreneurs.

BOH has built a loyal national and international subscriber base of more than 100,000 professionals, for whom it is the go-to source for top-notch industry reporting, trade show guides, job openings, event listings, expert sourcing, educational seminars.

Our tagline “Home is Everywhere” emphasizes that home, the fastest-growing category in the economy, encompasses all of the spaces—private and public—that surround us.–

Links:

Event: Future Of Home

Website: Business Of Home

Instagram: @dennisscully

Previous shows mentioned in this episode:

Jesse Lazarus #446

Jean Brownhill # 422

Anna Brockway #79, #186

Nicole Gibbons # 411

Welcome! Today, Dane Austin, of Dane Austin Design, joins us on the show. Dane founded his award-winning, full-service interior design firm, which specializes in luxury residential interiors throughout New England and North America, in 2009.

Dane has a signature design process, which he calls the Dane Austin Design. He created this highly-organized process because he truly understands the value in building profit centers around creating packages. This customer-driven plan delivers custom solutions for full-service, turnkey projects and Dane uses the packages feature from Mydoma Studio to explain, quantify, and smoothly sell his services to his clients. Listen in, to hear what Dane has to share on the show today.

Dane is the artist, interior design his medium, and the client his muse. Today, we have a conversation with him about finding yourself, both as an individual and as a business person. He talks to us about how he found his Fred Berns ‘only’, about the significance of the ladybugs on his website, and about finding your voice within your career journey. Dane is a delightful, warm, and generous person, so tune in today, and enjoy this opportunity to get to know him!

Show Highlights:

• It takes time to figure out who you really are.
• It’s important to dress the part.
• Your attitude is the most crucial thing.
• A lot goes into making your way to the top in the design industry.
• The human connection matters the most in the end.
• Helping each other be better and grow.
• Dane discusses his approach to his work.
• Bold and daring use of color really works for Dane.
• Identifying a thread through all his projects.
• Marketing yourself in a way that will attract the people you’d really like to be working with.
• Investing in really good images is very important.
• Finding the right element to create the wow factor.
• Delivering beyond the level of the client’s imagination.

Previous shows mentioned in this episode:

Nicole Heymer – Curio Electro #125 and #317

Nate Berkus – #433 

Links:

Dane Austin Design

Email: Dane Austin Design

Facebook: Dane Austin Design

Instagram: A Colorfull Life

Twitter: Dane Austin Design

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