161: Business and Life Success As An Interior Designer: Creative CEO Mastermind Conversations

Andrea Liebross: Welcome to the Time to Level Up Podcast. I'm your host, Andrea Liebross. Each week, I focus on the systems, strategy, and big thinking you need to CEO your business and life to the next level. Are you ready? Let's go.

Hello, my friends, and welcome back to the Time to Level Up Podcast. We are recording Episode 162 I believe, somewhere around there. I wanted to do this episode as part of a continued series where I am actually interviewing my clients to get their take on things. I think, again, it's so important to listen to other people and see ourselves in others. I think we learn so much that way.

Because when we're on the hot seat, a lot of times, it's harder to access what we're really thinking because there's a bit of stress involved. But when we're listening to others, there's no stress involved and we can really see ourselves in them, then also borrow from them what their learning is, their thoughts, or their actions we can borrow and we can just make some decisions about how we want to move forward.

In this episode, I spoke to four of my clients who started their businesses based off of their passion or interest in the service they provide. Now I think we all start a business based off of our interest in the service we provide but they're creatives. I have clients who are residential architects, landscape architects, interior designers, organizers. They are all schooled in their craft but what they are not schooled in or no one had taught them is how to run a business. That topic was not covered.

Another topic that was not covered is how to run a life alongside your business, a life that works for you, how to parent and run a business, how to be a spouse and run a business, how to be an amazing friend or daughter and run a business, how to take care of yourself and run a business.

This is the kind of work we do in coaching. We work on the things that they don't necessarily teach you in school and frankly, it is the stuff that keeps you up at night. If you are a creative person, you may be staying up at night thinking about how you want to help your client design their space. But I bet more often that you're staying up at night thinking about how you want to explain something to your client that your prices are increasing, or you want to tell your kid you can't go on their field trip because you have an important meeting that day.

I wanted to share with you the thoughts of my four clients who all have successful profitable businesses, what they think about what we're working on together, how they do it, how do they turn a profit and turn a life. We're going to dig in here and I want, again, if you can see yourself in any of them and how they're managing and how their thoughts have shifted over time and have your thoughts shifted, or are you stuck in the same spots?

The first question I asked them was about meeting the needs of the clients and meeting their own needs as a creative. Now this is important to look at because one reason that these people got into what they're doing is to fulfill their own creative desires. Are they still fulfilling their own creative desires and meeting the needs of their clients? Let's listen in to my question and these clips.

Nicole: I feel like in my experience so far, the clients that are hiring me really need a guide. They really need to be led in a direction. While I will listen to their styles and the color schemes that they want or don't want, and I'm taking in the rest of their home, I'm also trying to guide them in a direction.

That's where I feel like my skill set comes in or my taste in the things that I feel like would look good in the space, I feel like they just don't know and they need somebody from the outside world telling them, “This is what you guys need. This is the color,” or if they're like, “I don't want a lot of colors,” which is great because I like a neutral palette and then I like to add in color through a pillow, drapery, or things like that, but I feel like it's more they're wanting to be led, they're wanting someone to tell them, “This looks good.”

Holly: Obviously, you want the customer to be super happy. With staging, they're calling me and in their head, they might be thinking it might look one way. I always refer people to say, “Look at my website. This is how it's going to look.” At the end of the day, the most important thing is that they're really happy, very happy.

As a matter of fact, I had someone from House Hunters call me last week to stage a home and that was really exciting. But then they sent me a board of what they wanted it to look like and it was like purple and yellow. It was very fun like circusy and I told them, “That's not my style, and I want you to be really happy with how it looks,” and I referred them to someone different. Ultimately, I really want the client to be very happy.

Whitney: I think not every design is going to look the same just like every client has a different personality or certain aesthetic that they're drawn to. For me, it's listening to what they want. It's them showing me what they're interested in and what things they gravitate towards. Then I can help them in their current house or if they're building a house create a similar aesthetic to what they're drawn to.

That's not always going to be what I would do in my own home or if we're given free rein in a home but it's like a nice melting pot of “What does the clients want? What's going to give them an overall aesthetic that they're looking for? Then is it on brand with what we're creating?”

Tiffany: I mean, that has been something that's been a big deal for me over 20 years. The first part of immediately coming out of school, it was much easier for me to maintain that creative flow with the client and own that. Then as I got into it, it was surprising to me how easy it was for me to move away from that, in that it started to become more about the financial side of running the business and focusing on profits.

Now, that didn't serve me well so I have shifted back into the creative side. That for me has been more about my process. I think a big balancing thing for me was I let go of the requirement to do drawings because of the financial obligation that caused the client that I thought that I was doing them a favor by not doing the drawings and adding that as an investment.

Now I realized the drawings are nonnegotiable. You don't get to work with me if there are no drawings and if I don't have a creative say in what's being done. I'm not just trying to meet the client's needs, but I am trying to express my creativity and so I've had that ebb and flow over 20 years.

It came back to the drawings for me. Because I have this really beautiful collection of hand renderings that I would do for my clients and then I moved away from it. I was like, “Why am I so unhappy?” Then I realized I have no drawings. When's the last time I actually drew something? Now I've moved back into providing drawings.

Andrea Liebross: And also probably helps them with the expectations too like, “This is the direction we're going in,” so it’s clear for them.

Tiffany: And technology helped with that. The cost of drawings or doing digital stuff got cheaper so it definitely became easier.

Andrea Liebross: Alright, so there's leading the client, leading yourself as the creative or managing the client, managing yourself as a creative, and then there's leading and managing yourself as the business owner within your business. I'm going to say, actually, let's just start with the business leader within your business.

Now, when you're a business leader, you are a CEO, lots of creatives, and I think small business owners don't think about themselves as business leaders or CEOs. They think that title is reserved for the CEO of Google and Anthem but it's not. You are a CEO.

I actually went and looked up the definition of CEO: the Chief Executive Officer, the highest ranking person in a company or other institution ultimately responsible for making managerial decisions.

I think if you're listening to this podcast, that's you, and that is them. That is these women that I had these conversations with. They're also not just CEO, they own the company, they own the business. I went and looked up what's the definition of a business owner.

Well, a business owner is one person who is in control of the operational and monetary aspects of a business. An entity that produces and sells goods and services for profit.

Let me give an example, such as an e-commerce store or a freelance writer is considered a business. Businesses can be run alone or with a group of people. Not only are you the CEO, but you're the business owner.

What's hard about being CEO, a business owner, and creative? I asked this question and I think the answers are pretty telling about what's hard, but also about what they're working on, what they've evolved, how they've been evolving, the journey they've been on. Are you evolving into that CEO and CEO type of thinking or are you staying as an employee?

I have another episode that’s scheduled for a few months out that I'm going to talk about what the difference is between an employee and the CEO, having a job and having a business. Sit down, buckle up, listen in to these clips, about being a CEO and being a business owner.

Nicole: Yeah. Some hard parts are I'm a visionary. I'm constantly dreaming and looking forward. That is very hard for me to stop dreaming and looking forward because there's so much maintenance that needs to be done, management of all the things that I have already put in place and learning to balance future, where I want to go with maintaining and managing where I am today.

You know this through our coaching, I'm constantly looking like, “Oh, I want to go here. I want to go there.” But then I have to make sure I've put all the systems in place so that all of the current services that I'm offering are functioning, and I'm building a solid foundation so that in a year, I don't look back and go, “Everything I built last year is now crumbling.” I think for me, it's just a balance of “Let's get what we're doing today functioning, growing, and stable, and then moving forward with the next new best thing.”

Andrea Liebross: It's almost like a balance. It's balancing what's happening right now with where you want to go and not putting too many eggs in one basket, either-or because you don't want to stay stagnant but yet, you don't want to go super far ahead of yourself when you still maybe don't have a solid foundation of what's existing.

Nicole: Correct.

Whitney: I think there's always a push and pull when you own a business and when you're managing clients, their schedules, their needs, and your team's needs and their schedules. I haven't found the perfect balance but I've been doing this for eight-plus years and I feel like I've found more financial stability in the business. I know what direction it's going and it doesn't feel as much of a roller coaster as it did even two years ago.

Tiffany: Oh, man. I think the thing that's taken me the longest is the marketing. For me as a designer, I think the biggest challenge I face is really figuring out who I am, what I do, and who I do it for. I can't tell you I've spent years listening, consuming podcasts, listening to these experts but no matter how many packets I filled out or pre-downloads I did, whoever was offering how to market your interior design business, it's been an evolving process, but mainly over the last five years is when it's really come together for me even up until last week as I'm rebuilding a website and things.

Andrea Liebross: Okay. These women have learned that if they are owner or CEO, they are not always the doer or the implementer anymore even though they started out doing and implementing everything. This is something that we work on in coaching a lot, this kind of thinking.

Now remember, two of the five keys of becoming a big thinker are having thought options and taking action. Balancing having the thought options and the taking action is hard sometimes. What thoughts do they have? They need to shift their thought to “I am CEO and business owner. I am not employee and doer.”

With that thought, then what actions are they going to take themselves, what are they going to delegate, and how do you do that? How do you make that decision? How do you be an effective delegator? Is it worth it? This is where coaching comes into play big time because you don't have a board of directors to run this kind of thing by.

But your mastermind group or your coaching group with me as your coach, we can become your board of directors, we become your board of directors, and we help you make decisions to move the business forward and to move you forward as CEO to create that freedom you're desiring.

It's really hard to make these decisions and be a CEO if you're in your own peanut butter jar. What would it be like if you had a coach to help you read the label? Listen to these clips about delegating, about handing things off, about what it does for you.

Nicole: It has been a change. I will say initially when I hired the lead stager, I was training her and I was like, “Oh, my gosh, this is just added work. This does not make things easier.” But now we're two months in and she's running with it. I'm just saying, “This is what I need you to do.” Delegating completes an entire staging job to her and starting to give her more admin around that.

I mean, just last week, I was like, “I feel like a different person because I'm able to focus on this part of my business and this part of my business and I'm not even thinking about that part. Someone else is.” That has been very rewarding and freeing. I've found a lot of freedom. Just taking that step to hire even though it took time to get her in place and train her, now I'm in a different place and my business is in a different place.

Andrea Liebross: I love that for you. I love that that's coming together.

Nicole: I know. Yes, yes, me too. I feel like next year will be even better. My goal with her was January. I feel like I can let her go completely in January. She's already proven to be trustworthy and capable even sooner than I thought. That's amazing. That just means I got the right person.

Andrea Liebross: Yay! And you did a good job training her. I mean give yourself some credit because to get the right person, that took you, and then getting her up and running to a place where you already feel comfortable leaving only two months and not four months in, you need to give yourself real credit on that.

Nicole: Yeah, it’s true.

Andrea Liebross: I'm giving you credit.

Holly: Good. I don't know if you said it or someone else said it. I have someone that helps me do things and it might not be exactly the way I would do it but they do it great. It's beautiful and I just have to be like, “Oh, my gosh, this is so amazing. That it's not just me doing everything anymore.”

I've gotten a bookkeeper. That's been super helpful. Someone that does the accounting at the end of the year, that's really helpful. Then I just interviewed someone for a virtual assistant job to write a newsletter. Writing is not my thing. I think it's amazing you wrote this book. You've really helped me know that that's really important and to let go and to trust other people that they're going to be really good at what they do too.

Andrea Liebross: They are going to be. Is Kate going to help you with the newsletter?

Holly: No.

Andrea Liebross: Okay. But it's really important too, I think another piece of this is if it's 80%, if they got an 80% and it was done by someone else, it’s like 100% for you. I had to learn that too because no one's going to do it exactly the way you do it. No matter what, even if you taught them exactly your way, they're just not going to do it. I think accepting 80% done by someone else is really 100% in your book. It's fun.

Holly: Right. It makes it just more efficient and it's fun to work with people. In the beginning, I just did everything myself.

Andrea Liebross: By delegating, what's it going to allow you to do, what other things is it going to allow you to do, or what's it going to create for you?

Holly: Well, it's created more staging jobs. I can do them more efficiently. At the beginning, I've really progressed I guess [inaudible] in their business. But it's freed up a lot more time for just doing that. I was able to look into getting an accountant and I was able to look into getting a virtual assistant where before, I would just come home at the end of the day, have to make dinner, and then sit down at eight o'clock at night and start thinking about this stuff and it would overwhelm me.

It's given me more time when I started with you, I said I felt like my staging business was great. It was like the underneath part that I didn't have the foundation. I obviously had some foundation but I really feel like I've been able to take time and build that having these assistants help me.

Andrea Liebross: I love it. Look at you. That's scary to give responsibility to other people too. There's a fear factor in there too.

Whitney: I think for me, I'm getting better about this but one is hiring someone before you think you need to hire them on the business side. Another is having help at home even if you don't know exactly what this person needs to do, but you know you need another hand.

For example, in my home situation, I hired someone just to help with the kids after school. But now she's like grabbing groceries for me, she's doing laundry, she's taking the dog out. If the kids have a project, she's reminding me of that. She reviews the weekly schedule of what the kids are doing now every week. She is helping me like if somebody has a practice, she will help fix them dinner, get them a snack, or make sure their clothes are clean.

I didn't know I needed all that but I do because it's made things a lot easier. Especially when my partner is traveling. Then I think the whole hire before you're ready thing or before you think you need someone, we have someone on the team and we hired her, I thought she was going to do one thing but she's actually really good at a lot of things and she's our utility player is what someone calls her and she has an official title, but she's able to assist with a lot of our installations.

She's also able to help at the warehouse if something needs to be done that the designers don't have time for. That's an invaluable part of the business and that's mostly behind the scenes, but it makes everything on the front end run smoothly.

Andrea Liebross: What changed for you? Because I know when I talk to clients, a lot of them are like, “I don't know what I do with this person if I hire them, or I don't know if I need them yet,” so what changed for you in that sort of thinking?

Whitney: I saw that we were getting busy, and we were having more projects coming in. At that point, I didn't think it was going to slow down and so there was someone that was very capable to do some sort of job and I just decided to hire for a role that I thought the person would be good at and invaluable.

I think when you have the right person for your company, I'm a small firm, you will know because the hiring feels I think good and feels like a right fit. It doesn't feel uncertain, I guess, and forced. I think hiring more people can be scary in a way. But when you hire the right people, they each feel good because they are taking extra work and details off of your plate.

Andrea Liebross: Yes, and I think so many people are stressed about, “Then I'm going to have to train them and it's only going to add more work to me. It's going to make things more complicated and add more people to the mix.” But you figured out that that's not necessarily the case in the long run.

Whitney: And if you have a team of people, the team of people can help train the new person. It does not have to be all up to you. I think I get in this mindset a lot and I think a lot of women do like, “It's all up to me. I have to figure this out. I have to figure that out.” Really, you have a team of people that can help you move the needle forward without you actually having to do all of the work. You take the action, you let your team help train the new person or take on that new project.

Andrea Liebross: Look at you. Who are you? Have I met you before?

Whitney: I’m your protege and you have been helping me solve things.

Andrea Liebross: Alright, so now let's see what the results are of being more of the visionary. What are the results of having that board of directors? This is what gets me excited seeing these results and I think you can feel the excitement in their answers when I asked them what it's like having more people in place and being more of the visionary.

Holly: Things have run more smoothly. I don't feel as chaotic and anxious as I would. In my head, I was like, “Oh, my gosh, I have to do this and this and this.” Now I know that this person is helping me do that and this person is helping me do this. I personally feel more at peace.

Andrea Liebross: Okay, I love that. That's exactly how I want you to feel, way more in peace. I can't wait till you're going to be able to get on all these calls easily.

Alright, so another facet of being a big thinker is embracing the unknown. That's one of the five things a big thinker is embracing the unknown, which probably is the scariest part. Then that brings you to another part of being a big thinker is identifying the real problem.

Your ability to identify the real problem is something that you need to work on. It's a skill. But remember, identifying the real problem, 99% of the time, the real problem is really just a negative feeling. It might be fear. These women, though, in their answers, notice that they've gotten good at identifying the real problem. They've gotten good at embracing the unknown, and even though they still have fear because they're human, look at how they have learned to manage that.

Nicole: You know this answer from me, finances. It's the money. It's like, “Where's it coming from? Will it continue to come in? When it comes in, can I control myself and not spend it all?” For me, the greatest fear revolves around finances. I have taken lots of steps, action steps towards helping myself understand my numbers, hiring a CPA, starting You Need A Budget, trying to understand and be in a communication or a relationship with my number so that I'm not scared of them. But it's still scary to think about where's the next dollar going to come from.

Andrea Liebross: Yeah, that's a work in progress. You’ve put a lot of systems in place and become more familiar with the systems over the last 10 months, 12 months and it's the mindset piece that you need to keep refining.

Nicole: And goal setting.

Andrea Liebross: Goal setting, right.

Nicole: Huge. I set a goal to double my income by the end of the year, and I've already surpassed that. Sometime in October, I hit those numbers and beyond those numbers, and that feels really good. It's like, “Oh, this is great.” Then I'm like, “Okay.”

It’s motivating when you see your numbers growing, and then you have a place to put that money and not just like I'm trying to put it into the reserve, into profit, so that I start next year with different financial goals in mind because I'm seeing how it works. I'm a believer in SMART goal setting.

Andrea Liebross: SMART goal setting. I think a year ago, you would have told me, “This is too scary. I don't know if I want to do this.”

Nicole: I really do wish that I had a microphone on myself a year ago because I feel like I have grown so incredibly much this year in so many ways, not just one way but like this. I mean you name it, I feel like I am where I am today through coaching and through all of my systems, the push, in division. It's a different business today than it was a year ago.

Andrea Liebross: I remember when you were doing your plan. I have that on recording. We should pull that out.

Nicole: We should pull that out, yeah, because I remember you were like, “How much money do you want to make in three years?” I told you the number and I hit that this year. I'm like, “Oh, wow. What do I want to do next year?” I know you can't probably double your income every year but I do feel like it has been a very encouraging year of what is possible when you think big.

Andrea Liebross: Why can't you double your income next year? I mean, why not?

Nicole: I mean, that would be amazing.

Andrea Liebross: Why not? We might as well put it out there. If you don't, you don’t, but we might as well put it out there. Better to get closer than not close.

Holly: That’s a good question too. I think the bookkeeping is really hard. Also organizing your warehouse, that can be tricky. If you get a whole bunch of stuff back, then you've got to have a quick turnaround and get it out. It's a lot of logistical things. That can be a little tricky.

Andrea Liebross: Okay. What have you learned about your books now that you've gotten a little bit of a handle on them? How do you feel about it?

Holly: Like counting?

Andrea Liebross: Yeah.

Holly: Yeah, I mean, I feel like it's really good to see it on paper because before, it was just like out there or it was just me looking at it not efficiently. This person is helping me categorize things better and think, “Well, do you want to spend this much money on your inventory? Let's allocate this much money for this.” It's been helpful to see in a total job where the money goes. Before I wasn't doing that so great.

Andrea Liebross: Okay. Is it as bad as you thought it was?

Holly: No, no, I didn't think so.

Andrea Liebross: No. It's fun actually to be like, “I know where every dollar is going. Every dollar has got a job.”

Holly: Yeah, I loved meeting with Nicole on You Need A Budget. That was super helpul because it's not my thing. It's been really very helpful. It’s always an area of improvement for me.

Andrea Liebross: Okay, so last piece here, to address all of these money fears, I have built into my coaching program one-on-one sessions with a money confidence or budgeting coach so that you can learn to become friends with your numbers. I have listened to this fear around money too many times to not have this element as a built-in to my coaching program.

I listen and I put measures in place to help my clients manage this. Again, if you're creative, if you're an interior designer, no one's teaching you how to build a budget in school. They're not teaching you that, a business budget. They might tell you how to budget and price out a room, but they're not telling you how to price out your business.

Alright, so let's finish up today's discussion with advice. Regardless of whether or not you're at the beginning of your business, or a few years in, listen to this advice that Whitney is about to give you.

Whitney: That you're just at the very beginning, like you are at the precipice of building your business, building your brand, and figuring out what that's going to look like. There are going to be good days, hard days, and uncertain days. But I would encourage anyone starting something new to keep going. Keep going. Don't give up. Even if the first two years are hard, I would encourage you to keep going.

Andrea Liebross: I like that piece of advice. What do you think if there's one thing that they should definitely do, is there anything like, “You must do this or it's a must”?

Whitney: Two years into my business, I was pregnant with the twins and I would work in the morning and take a nap every day. Then I would work in the afternoon, then I would have to lay down again by 6:30 or 7:00 every day for nine months. This season for me was keep going but at a slower pace.

Andrea Liebross: Okay, that's fair. That's great advice. I love that.

Whitney: I think it depends on what season you're in and what are your kids’ ages, what other stuff do you have going on in your life? But for me, at the very beginning, what I knew I needed was to keep pouring into myself like learning something new. I needed to be involved in some sort of local networking chapter. I don't know. What is that called? You know what I mean.

Andrea Liebross: You need to connect with others to figure out not what else is out there but tap into other business owners really.

Whitney: Yeah. That would be key, tapping into other business owners and having a community of other women business owners and then constantly learning from other people that are experts in the field. Because not only are you learning tangible things, but you're also watching somebody else who is already successful and had the success and how they interact with clients, with projects. I think all of that is invaluable too.

The other piece of advice, and I didn't have this until actually I started working with you, Andrea, is having a really good CPA and having them help you reconcile every month, showing you the reports, and explaining them to you in the beginning. If you only see a snapshot of what you're doing from a sales perspective every quarter or once a year, you're not seeing the whole picture. You need someone to sit down with you monthly to review that.

Then the final thing is having a business coach. I think that has been key for me is having somebody to remind me of how far I've come and also that these goals that I have can be exciting.

Andrea Liebross: They are exciting. I remember actually we first started working together, you were so like that, scared in a negative way, just numbers to you made you cringe. That's been a huge difference.

Whitney: Yes. It’s been great to have to have Maggie help me, walk me through where we're at, and things that we can do.

Andrea Liebross: Yeah. I do think having that other as a coach or whoever to help you see what's out there, like possibilities, and to remind you that what you've made actually happens. We forget what we've made happen.

Whitney: And that your big goals, yes, they can feel scary but what if you can just soften that a little bit and think about, “What if this does happen, and what if I am successful, what does that look like? What impact would I have?” For me, that takes me from this feels like a lot to the what-ifs and this could all happen.

Andrea Liebross: And it's happening. What is happening for you? What is not happening? What do you want to happen? What's getting in your way of making it happen? Part of what Whitney and all the women on this call have worked on, and I am so proud of them, is that they've all gotten really good at answering those questions, and seeking help, guidance, and input when they're stuck.

They're just willing to explore the possibilities. Like, “Maybe that could happen,” and then make some decisions about which possibilities they want to become a reality and see it through to the reality. That seeing through that journey is what I call “This is happening,” and this is happening for them.

They also have experienced what it's like to be in a community. Whitney mentioned a community. Who is your community of women that's supporting you in making things happen? Well, I have one for you. I have a community for you, they're in it, and they would welcome you with open arms. Why not be part of a community? Why not be part of coaching?

Who is your coach? I would be honored to work with you and to help you get a clearer picture of what is happening in your business, that will be step one, and then to identify what you want to happen, that's step two, and then to create the plan to get there, step three. We can do that in a Vision to Action Intensive. Then to give you the ongoing support you need to make it happen and that could happen through one of my coaching options.

But which one's right for you? I don't know. Let's hop on a call, a complimentary call and we'll figure out where you're at in that call, which is worth a thousand million dollars in and of itself, just that call, figuring out where you're at and where you want to go. We'll figure that out too. Then we can figure out how you're going to get there and what you need along the way if you decide to engage in some coaching. We'll figure out what the best kind of coaching is for you.

I encourage you to head over to andreaslinks.com, get yourself scheduled for a complimentary coaching call, and we're going to figure out what is going to work best for you and we're going to get you going in 2024. You might be listening to this and it's the end of January and you're really just like, “Okay, I gotta get my act together.” Well, let's get it together. It's not too late. It's only the end of January. Let's get your act together. Head over to andreaslinks.com, schedule a complimentary call.

Again, it's complimentary, but it's worth millions of dollars because you're going to figure out where you are, what is happening, what you want to happen, and then we'll figure out how to create a plan to make it happen. Alright, my friends. Remember, now is the time to level up. Right now. Always the time. Never a bad time. We don't have to wait for a time. It's right now. Have a great day. See you next week.

Hey, listening to podcasts is great. But you also have to do something to kick your business up a notch. You need to take some action, right? So go to andreaslinks.com and take the quiz. I guarantee you'll walk away knowing exactly what your next best step is to level up.