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Hello, and welcome to Episode 22
of design. 

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Curious podcast, I'm your host 
and Mentor Rebecca Ward. 

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Today, I have a great interview 
with Ellen Walker of Alan Walker

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design and she is out of Canada.
As I've gotten to know her over 

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the last year and a half. 
It's been really fun watching 

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her really Branch out and start 
to work with Builders and get 

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Awards and things like that. 
So I love her story. 

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You'll enjoy Hearing from her 
today, let me tell you just a 

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little bit more about her. 
Ellen loves to travel and draw 

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inspiration from art 
architecture and beautiful 

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fabrics and Furniture. 
Wherever she happens to be 

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interior design, however, 
encompasses more than a visual 

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aesthetic. 
Great design is characterized by

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functionality timeless style and
a positive emotional connection 

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with those who use the space. 
As an industry, leader, in 

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incorporating, the psychology of
design into her projects, she 

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solves people's Design problems 
and has access to experts in 

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both design psychology and 
environment design allowing her 

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to deeply understand what people
need in their spaces in order to

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live better. 
Throughout the years. 

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She's worked on Renovations 
ranging from one room to a full 

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house as well as new builds. 
That vary from small to large 

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projects, in both residential 
and Commercial spaces. 

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She's obsessed with creating and
remodeling spaces of all stories

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and she is out of Red Deer 
County. 

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In Alberta Canada and you can 
find our Ellen Walker 

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design.com. 
So let's hear from Ellen today. 

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You're now listening to design, 
curious a place where you 

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creative one are here to learn 
about what it really is. 

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Like, to be an interior designer
and I'm your host and Mentor 

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Rebecca, Ward, if you're worried
about how to succeed in a 

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creative career, if you're ready
to learn your next steps to 

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become an Interior Designer. 
And if you want the satisfaction

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of doing something you love 
every day, you are in the right 

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place. 
Grab a coffee, a notebook. 

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And let's dig into today's 
episode. 

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Well, hi Allen. 
Thank you for coming on the 

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podcast today. 
It's great to have you. 

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Thank you. 
Looking forward to it. 

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Yeah. 
So why don't you tell us the 

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name of your company and why are
you located? 

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So the name of my company is on 
Walker Design Group. 

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I am located in Red, Deer, 
Alberta in Canada. 

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So, a little bit farther north 
and I've had my business now, 

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since 1995, actually, May, 15th 
of 1995, so that is a few years,

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28. 
Eight years, I guess. 

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Yeah, yeah, that's great 
differently. 

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Yeah, well, we can talk about 
that. 

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So let's go way back before 
1995, when you start your 

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business, how did you get into 
design? 

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Did you go to school for it? 
Actually, I did go to school but

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then that wasn't B online. 
It was true cassette tapes and 

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online version. 
But mailing system, Sure yeah, 

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something I always wanted to do 
as a child and something I 

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dreamt of and when I graduated 
from high school, my remember my

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father just said, no Alan just 
go get a real job. 

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Yeah, I put it off for a few 
years. 

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Oh, poor interior design. 
Career always gets like 

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pooh-poohed by parents. 
I think as not being a legit 

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career but we know better. 
That's right. 

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So, how long did it? 
Take you. 

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Q. 
And what what did you decide to 

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do in the meantime before you 
came back to design? 

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So I worked as an administrative
person for a few larger 

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companies and it did serving as 
well. 

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And then the company I was 
working for a petrochemical 

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company. 
I really didn't like it all. 

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I could think of was to somehow 
get into design. 

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So they actually were downsizing
their all their stuff, they 

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called it re-engineering. 
So they were offering packages 

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and my husband were They're too.
That's how we met. 

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So one of them was an 
educational package, but we had 

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just adopted our son, who is a 
toddler and one was an 

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entrepreneurial package. 
There was other ones to to go to

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school physically from where we 
are because we're an hour and a 

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half from to big cities, like 
Edmonton and Calgary. 

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That just wasn't going to work 
with having a two year old and 

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new. 
So I took the entrepreneurial 

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package which gave you some 
money to start up, and And in 

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the meantime, somebody I had 
bought it window window covering

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business, like for small amount 
of money, like 5,000 dollars. 

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And so then I decided to take 
more deaths, then an online 

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course, which is was done by 
cassette tapes. 

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So I did that, it took me about 
two years, but in the meantime, 

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I was doing mainly window 
coverings and then I also my 

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little shop was out of the local
paint store Benjamin Moore 

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dealer. 
Oh yeah. 

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Um, so I one of my clients at 
that time said, you know, you 

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should partner with you, thought
you should partner with map, 

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make an alliance so I did. 
So I was there for nine years. 

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Also, I learned how to mix paint
and when that wasn't super busy.

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So I did lots of other things 
and then just some things in my 

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life with kids and stuff. 
I am running around all the time

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like, because I never charge to 
go out to somebody's place and I

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was starting to burn out. 
Yeah. 

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Yeah, tired. 
So one of the local flooring 

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company's sibilant you just come
work for us and so I thought 

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about it and thought about it, 
okay, well, I'll have more 

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opportunity for design because I
found in the paint business. 

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People are already building, 
you're too late, right? 

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Yeah. 
Or in the window covering 

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business and, you know, they're 
they're beyond the initial 

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stage, right? 
So I had, I did go to this 

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company. 
After two months, I just told I 

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was so used to my own schedule, 
my son was 11 at the time and I 

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found that he it was very had to
have longer hours and it didn't 

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really work and I just got 
frustrated. 

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And I just finally said to them,
I said this isn't working for 

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me. 
I'm going to quit and the owners

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as well. 
Ellen don't quit. 

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Just do what you can. 
Yeah I said okay, fine I'm about

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to have my own business too. 
So I freelanced for the next 

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nine years. 
I learned a lot boring. 

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You know, took a started to 
slowly get some more design 

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projects and then Yeah. 
So then nine years I guess it's 

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been nine years. 
I still always work with them 

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because I was always I was 
hardly ever there. 

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I just occupied a space, okay? 
And they had changed the way 

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they did things. 
The son took over and they 

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wanted me to be there from 9 to 
5:30 at mean that. 

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And it would mean a couldn't do 
my own, my own business anymore.

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And I just did. 
No, I said that. 

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Feels like a dog, chained to a 
pole. 

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To mine just can't do it. 
Yeah, so yeah, it's been nice. 

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Wow, very good. 
Wow. 

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That is a very is kind of like a
organic approach to creating 

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your own company and becoming a 
designer, just happened a little

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by little step by step in that 
direction. 

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And then eventually now, here 
you are with a successful firm 

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in a project. 
That didn't you get published 

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recently or won an award or 
Something I want an award. 

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This past spring, for 
excellence, in interior, design 

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was true, it's a Builders 
Association. 

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So it's the association, there's
home. 

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Builders contractors trades. 
Suppliers are all members of 

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this. 
It's a national Canadian 

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actually company is divided into
regions. 

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So there is a project that's a 
builder and I have worked on. 

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So, I decided to enter it and 
I've entered before. 

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Hmm. 
Yeah. 

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And I've won so wonderful 
awesome. 

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Yeah, wow. 
So along the way as you're 

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building your business and 
becoming more confident as a 

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designer, what were the 
challenges that you face, if 

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there were any that you thought 
of, as far as confidence of what

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you were doing, was it just 
experienced giving you that 

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confidence, or did you not? 
Truly fall into it as a natural 

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Talent OR feedback from clients.
Like, how did you keep going in 

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that direction? 
Well, that was the hardest 

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thing. 
For me in the conference area is

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that I didn't have the full 
degree. 

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Yeah. 
And I still don't know Kat and I

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had just actually no, I refuse 
to learn it. 

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I don't want to learn it. 
Somebody else can do it for me. 

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Yeah, you can Outsource that. 
But but do you think it's just 

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this the mental step of life? 
Like I don't have a degree in 

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this and that's was the mindset 
of it was holding you back 

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sometimes in your confidence. 
Yep. 

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Yeah. 
It was not always easy. 

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I ran into some a couple of 
really nasty clients. 

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A couple things which I think 
lots of designers face. 

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One really shook my confidence. 
Yeah, I did have a hard time 

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like with confidence building my
confidence. 

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I also became also have been a 
business of design members since

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its first started. 
So I would slowly start to try 

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to implement those steps but it 
knit was approached. 

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It was a process. 
Yeah, and then it's been five 

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years now, just things started 
to really kind of start to 

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really kind of Click. 
I got better clients and maybe 

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because I use the system's more.
Hmm. 

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And I know I'm well known in the
area. 

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I mean, I don't I don't I'm not 
in a large Center so sometimes 

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that's a little bit frustrating.
Sometimes it's the mindset to 

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All here, but I seem to be doing
okay. 

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So yeah, I'm actually making 
money. 

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Yeah, well, that's really 
important. 

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A lot of my accounts, did you 
know, you'd be better off 

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working at Starbucks? 
You'd probably leave. 

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Oh, my goodness. 
And was that because your fees 

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weren't high enough or you just 
weren't tracking your hours or a

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combination of the way that 
he's. 

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Yeah. 
My fees weren't high enough. 

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Yeah, I wasn't tracking all my 
hours. 

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It wasn't charging for all my 
hours and I was just doing 

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things different. 
Yeah, it took me a while to 

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learn. 
Yeah. 

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Well, and then a couple coach it
now had a couple coaches to that

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helped me. 
See things in a different way to

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which really helped but yeah, 
it's yes, it's still been a 

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process. 
Yeah it's not been one straight 

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line. 
Right. 

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I think that is often the case 
we learn from our mistakes. 

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We learn from Projects that cost
us some money to fix a problem. 

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You never make that mistake 
again. 

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Yeah. 
Yeah. 

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So would you say that there is 
there any, like, secret sauce or

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to becoming a successful 
designer? 

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Is it take a lot of perseverance
being an entrepreneur? 

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What would you say about that? 
I think it takes a lot of 

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perseverance. 
I think it takes a lot of 

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surrounding yourself with. 
Other like-minded people who are

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successful to learning from 
other people. 

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I do think coaching is a huge 
part of it. 

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Yeah, it's not an easy job. 
It is not an easy job and then 

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it's also learning people's 
personalities which yeah really 

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found. 
Like learning your your clients 

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personalities and understanding 
when you're meeting with them 

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for the first time. 
What kind of a client? 

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They're going to be? 
Yes. 

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Yeah, trying to analyze. 
I feel, I've gotten better at 

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that. 
Try to, okay. 

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And maybe this is a person. 
I don't want to work with right 

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going. 
Very well, right. 

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Did you get coaching early on in
your career or was that later? 

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Mmm. 
No. 

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That was probably 15 or so 
between 10 and 15 years. 

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Yeah coaches. 
Yeah. 

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And I needed one again. 
I think at least in my case when

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I started getting coaching 
realizing that how helpful 

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coaching can be, that's when my 
business started to really turn 

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a corner and be profitable and 
actually was able to grow In a 

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more sustainable way. 
So, our this, is there anything 

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that you wish you had known when
you are starting out that, you 

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know now. 
But like if you Ellen from way 

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back then, would you, what would
you tell her if she's just 

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starting out? 
Taking this cassette tapes, I'm 

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listening to them. 
It's not a glorified easy job, 

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actually. 
I just had one client. 

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Who said, you know, I should 
charge you for shopping. 

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I said, okay, wait a minute, 
wait a minute. 

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That's called sourcing. 
That is not shopping shopping is

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something that you do for 
yourself and it's enjoyable. 

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When I go sourcing in and I am 
focused on you. 

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Yeah, it's it was a joke. 
She made she even said it today,

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then her sister. 
Yeah. 

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Ellen, corrected me on that. 
I said, yes. 

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But back, I would have, if I 
hadn't known about the system 

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that I use, now back then I'd 
say that's a huge part of it is,

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I'm having some definite systems
and procedures in place that you

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can Implement on a regular 
basis. 

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Yeah I think that's so important
I get cooking right away. 

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Right. 
Yeah yeah I think it's easy for 

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in our industry for designers to
fall into business and not 

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really think about the systems 
and procedures right away 

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because they might have started 
out as a hobby or something that

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they really want, you know, 
really enjoyed. 

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My name in decorating but but 
then it's not the business part 

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of it, but they're really 
thinking about and that's really

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the most important part of it. 
If you want to do it for a 

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living as a career, it's burnt 
me out a couple times. 

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Yeah where it's you know, did I 
want to actually continue to do 

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that? 
Hmm. 

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And you never worked for another
designer or with another 

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designer. 
Just did it always sort of the 

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local group here. 
There's a few of us that is Us. 

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But six of us that we get 
together on a regular basis. 

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We've got to know each other, 
not everybody uses the same 

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system I use. 
There's couple those with that's

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it. 
Hmm. 

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Yeah. 
They want to do their own thing.

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I've tried. 
Yeah, some people are kind of 

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yeah, stubborn about their own 
process and that's fight if it 

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works for them. 
I guess that's fine. 

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As long as they're being 
profitable, yeah. 

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Yeah, any other advice for 
up-and-coming designers who 

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would be considering becoming an
interior designer, something 

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you'd recommend to them, I would
suggest go work for an 

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established firm. 
Hmm. 

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First. 
Learn how they do things. 

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What's required just to gain 
some at least to gain some 

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experience. 
If you're going to go, if you 

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want to go the Rope to the 
entrepreneur, Because it's not 

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as easy to me. 
I think it would be would be an 

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easier path. 
So, yeah, I don't Junior 

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designer. 
I have right now. 

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I said, you know, my goal is to 
eventually retire, and she's 

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plans on staying. 
And she said, I said, well, 

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maybe you can just take it over 
for me. 

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One day. 
Yeah, she's happy to be doing it

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for, for me, it's working out. 
Great. 

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So I'm getting her slowly to do 
more and more and more stuff. 

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Yeah, good. 
And as long as she has a desire,

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ER to be a business owner, as 
well. 

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I think because there are going 
to be some designers that work 

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for other designs, who don't 
really want to own their own 

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company because rather than a 
lot of hats to wear. 

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But yes, if she's interested in 
being kind of a successor to you

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00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,900
than, that would be great to 
groom her for that. 

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Mmm. 
Yeah, we'll see where that goes.

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Yeah. 
Well, where can everybody go to 

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see your beautiful award-winning
work to? 

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Go to do w, dot Helen Walker 
design.com, that's my website. 

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Okay, any on Instagram on 
Instagram as well? 

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00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:11,900
Okay, great, wait a moment and 
Facebook, okay, I like Jim, what

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00:17:11,900 --> 00:17:14,900
are you on the most, what we're 
doing Instagram, Instagram, 

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00:17:15,700 --> 00:17:17,500
okay. 
We'll put that in the show notes

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00:17:17,500 --> 00:17:18,900
for everybody. 
Check out what? 

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Thank you, Ellen, for sharing 
your Expertise in your path. 

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00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:29,100
And it's really helpful to hear 
how everybody gets their own 

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00:17:29,100 --> 00:17:32,400
ways to success, and it's a 
different story for everyone and

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00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:35,200
I love hearing yours. 
So thank you for that. 

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00:17:35,900 --> 00:17:46,300
You're welcome. 
So fun talking with Alan, just 

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00:17:46,300 --> 00:17:50,100
all of her experience that she's
been in a gang for a while. 

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00:17:50,100 --> 00:17:53,500
But it shows you that there's 
always room for growth and 

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00:17:53,500 --> 00:17:56,200
Improvement and she's a 
testimony of that and she's 

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00:17:56,200 --> 00:18:00,000
doing great today in her design,
such an inspiration to me. 

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00:18:00,500 --> 00:18:03,400
Again, you can find all of our 
contact information in our show 

308
00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:06,900
notes, and you can find that our
word design.com forward slash 

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00:18:06,900 --> 00:18:10,100
podcast. 
Don't forget to leave me a five 

310
00:18:10,100 --> 00:18:13,300
star rating and review. 
I love reading those reviews. 

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00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:14,800
You. 
And if you want to reach out to 

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00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:18,600
me podcast at our war design.com
is the email. 

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00:18:19,100 --> 00:18:21,700
I love connecting with people on
Instagram as well. 

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00:18:21,700 --> 00:18:26,000
So go check us out at our war 
design and you can see all the 

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00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:31,100
podcast that I we post on there 
and as well as our projects from

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00:18:31,100 --> 00:18:34,400
my own firm. 
And don't forget to check out my

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00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:39,700
design Mentor that program is 
for people who are wanting to 

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00:18:39,700 --> 00:18:43,300
know a little more like this 
podcast about the career. 

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00:18:43,500 --> 00:18:46,700
Interior design and seeing if 
it's the career for them. 

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00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:50,700
So stick around for another 
great episode next week we'll 

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00:18:50,700 --> 00:18:53,300
talk to you then until then stay
creative. 

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00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:57,700
Thanks for listening. 
If you loved this episode, 

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00:18:57,700 --> 00:18:59,400
please leave a rating and a 
review. 

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00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:01,800
This helps me reach other 
curious creatives. 

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00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:05,500
Like you, if you have a topic 
request or would like to contact

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00:19:05,500 --> 00:19:09,700
me, simply head over to my 
website, our Ward, designed.com 

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00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:14,300
or email me at podcast at our 
war, Sign.com. 

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00:19:13,408 --> 00:19:14,300
Sign.com.