1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:04,800 Hello and welcome to episode 142 of Design Curious Podcast. 2 00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:07,320 I'm your host and mentor, Rebecca Ward. 3 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:12,120 Today on the podcast, I have a special guest, Aaron V. 4 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:17,360 She has so much knowledge and a great product called Style Row 5 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:21,040 that you're going to be interested in software for 6 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:23,320 designers to stay very organized. 7 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:26,320 So let me tell you a little bit more about Aaron. 8 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:31,440 Aaron is an entrepreneur who started her career at an early 9 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:33,600 age. Graduating from high school 10 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:36,560 early, she skipped college and went straight to work. 11 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:41,480 At the age of 24, she founded her design firm, Aaron V Design 12 00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:46,560 Group, later a furniture brand, Aaron V and most recently turned 13 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:49,600 software visionary, building a platform to help designers 14 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:53,080 communicate, present and design as well as discover the best of 15 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:55,840 luxury design world. And that software is called 16 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:58,800 Style Row. She has seven licensed 17 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,560 collections, including Hollywood Hills with Baldwin Furniture, 18 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:07,280 Furniture Line with Universal Furniture and then Bella home 19 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:11,120 window coverings with Hartman and Forbes Fine Art, handmade 20 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,880 lighting, Rugs with Creative Touch and Robin. 21 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:19,720 Her work has been featured in many magazines including Elle 22 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:23,320 Decor, Veranda, Traditional, Home Town and Country House, 23 00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:26,560 Beautiful, Rob Report, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles 24 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:30,000 Times and others. She has taken her award-winning 25 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,880 design style and turned it into a master class for anyone 26 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:34,960 looking to upgrade or remodel their home. 27 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:39,160 She has four horses and resides in Santa Rosa Valley with her 28 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,280 husband. So let's get to her story. 29 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:48,360 I know you're going to enjoy it. You're now listening to Design 30 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,480 Curious, the place where you, Creative One, are here to learn 31 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:56,400 about what it really is like to be an interior designer, and I'm 32 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:58,760 your host and mentor, Rebecca Ward. 33 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:03,480 If you're worried about how to succeed in a creative career, if 34 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:06,320 you're ready to learn your next steps to become an interior 35 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:10,720 designer, and if you want the satisfaction of doing something 36 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:14,160 you love every day, you are in the right place. 37 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:18,520 Grab a coffee, a notebook, and let's dig into today's episode. 38 00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:20,960 Hey Aaron, welcome to Design Cures podcast. 39 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:22,280 It's great to have you here today. 40 00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:23,720 Great to be here. Thank you. 41 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:27,080 Yeah, we've been trying to connect for a little while, so 42 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:30,200 it's great to finally get you on the podcast. 43 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:32,520 For our listeners. I know that Style Row is 44 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:34,600 definitely going to be something we want to check out. 45 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:39,040 But before we get there, let's talk about how you became 46 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:43,240 interior designer. Did you know from an early age 47 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:44,960 that that's what you wanted to do? 48 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:48,680 No, not at all. I remember growing up as a young 49 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:53,120 girl, maybe 5 to 10 years old and just like always liking 50 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:56,120 homes and like the idea of real estate. 51 00:02:56,120 --> 00:03:00,040 And when I was a kid, I would sketch my perfect horse barn. 52 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:03,480 I was a horse girl, the lamb. I remember being like probably 8 53 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:07,120 years old sitting at the kitchen and being like, OK, if I have 54 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:11,080 the ten horses, I need 10 stalls and how big do those stalls have 55 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:12,480 to be? And I remember it being like a 56 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:14,520 real problem that I was trying to solve. 57 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:17,560 And then I have 10 horses, I need 10 saddles. 58 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,360 So that means my tack room has to be a certain size. 59 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:23,240 And I was literally couldn't just sketch something random 60 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:26,320 like most kids probably did. I was like, well, how big does a 61 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:28,320 stall need to be? And let's go figure this out. 62 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:31,520 So I was drawing to scale at 8 years old even though. 63 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:33,600 It still. Didn't even occur to me that 64 00:03:33,640 --> 00:03:37,400 design was a job or I always loved real estate and as a 65 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:41,040 younger person as I continued growing up, I always thought OK, 66 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:43,240 I want to have my own company one day. 67 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:45,480 But I still had no idea what I wanted that to be. 68 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:49,080 I knew it needed to be like 50% creative and 50% business. 69 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:52,360 That was as far as I got. I have other entrepreneurs in 70 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:54,880 your life that kind of inspired you to do that or? 71 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,440 My mom had her own business. She owned company, so it was 72 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:02,640 like a residential painting company, and she had flipped up 73 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,560 some apartment buildings with a partner of hers back in the 80s. 74 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,760 Before that was really a term. My grandfather had his own 75 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:12,200 cabinet shop, so he had been a contractor in his younger years 76 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,680 and then a fine cabinet maker in his older years after being a 77 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:17,320 farmer. So he had multiple careers. 78 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:21,079 As I look back, everyone kind of had their own business in a way. 79 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:25,040 They were all doing their thing. And then we moved to LA when I 80 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:29,560 was 9. And so probably when I was about 81 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:32,720 18, a friend of my mom's called me up. 82 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:34,960 She was a headhunter. And she was like, I'm helping 83 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:37,880 this lady find an assistant and I think you should meet her. 84 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:42,840 And she's a lifestyle expert. So this is back in, I was 85 00:04:42,840 --> 00:04:45,320 leaving high school, right? So it was like in the late 90s. 86 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:48,440 And that was when Martha Stewart was exploding on the scene. 87 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:50,840 The term lifestyle expert was a big thing. 88 00:04:50,840 --> 00:04:52,920 And HGTV was taking over the world. 89 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:55,680 And I was like, well, I'm not really looking for a job. 90 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:58,920 I'm trying to actually take the summer off for once because I'd 91 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:02,080 worked six days a week since I was 13 and never took a day off. 92 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,240 And she was like, no, no, you really need to meet this lady. 93 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:07,400 I think you guys are totally going to get get along. 94 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:09,720 I'm like, but I don't want an extra job, Barbara. 95 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:11,880 Like, why are you forcing this lady on me? 96 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:15,240 But I went and I met her and she was wonderful. 97 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:18,600 Her name is Susie Quailo. And I think I was there for two 98 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:22,320 or three hours at her house, her Home Office, and she wouldn't 99 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:24,200 let me leave until I took the job. 100 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:27,960 But I don't need it. What wait best? 101 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:30,760 But she was amazing. So she convinced me and so I 102 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:32,480 said yes. And so I said OK, I'll train 103 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:35,680 horses in the morning and I could come over at 1:00 and be 104 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:37,440 here till, I don't know, probably 7 or something. 105 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:41,040 So she said so we did that for a year where I was part time. 106 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:45,360 She hired another lady full time and she had ATV show on HDTV 107 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:47,400 that was starting or had been going I guess somewhat 108 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:50,600 successfully for maybe a period of time, a gardening show called 109 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,720 Surprise Gardener and she wanted to be the next Martha. 110 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:55,680 That was her goal. I worked for her for that first 111 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:58,720 year and then I said OK, why don't you come on full time and 112 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:01,320 let this other lady go and we'll really do this and grow your 113 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,200 business. And so she said OK, so I helped 114 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:06,920 her produce 2 books with Simon and Schuster on Home Decor in 115 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:09,480 Style. She had multiple shows on HGTV 116 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,840 and specials and she had a regular contributorship on NBC 117 00:06:12,840 --> 00:06:15,000 on the Today show. And so we were doing holiday 118 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,560 decorating segments and she had had a very extensive television 119 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,000 and media background. So it was a great learning 120 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:24,120 experience for me, really getting like that, almost better 121 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:27,600 than a college education in the real world of marketing and PR 122 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:30,920 and television and production. And it was an incredible 6 123 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:33,080 years. She wanted to design product 124 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:36,080 lines, so she landed an incredible licensing agent and 125 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:40,000 we got a deal with Mervyn's for a bed, bath and tabletop line 126 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:42,480 big box retailer on the West Coast back then. 127 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:44,320 Yeah. So it was just great. 128 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,240 And then throughout that process, I stumbled into 129 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:50,720 decorating my first apartment and another friend of mine came 130 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:52,760 over and said, wow, your apartment's so great. 131 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:54,400 This is amazing. You should be an interior 132 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:55,560 designer. And I was like, what are you 133 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:58,680 talking about? This is like IKEA and literally 134 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:02,920 like Susie's old hand me down sofa and some stuff that I found 135 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:04,560 at the garage sale down the street. 136 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:07,680 My mom loves garage sales and markets, so we we did that a 137 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:09,680 lot. She was like, no, your place is 138 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:10,800 amazing. What are you talking about? 139 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:13,560 I was like, you're crazy. Doesn't everyone do this? 140 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:16,880 Doesn't everyone stand up on a ladder and faux finish their 141 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:20,200 beams back to wood and insist that their landlord paints their 142 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:23,120 entire apartment and re carpets it and do all these things that 143 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:26,000 I made this poor man do? And I told him, I said, listen, 144 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:28,600 when I move out, it's going to rent instantly. 145 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:31,200 So just do what I say and let me do whatever I want. 146 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:33,800 And I guarantee you it's going to be way better when you go to 147 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:36,280 try to rent it again. And it was absolutely that way. 148 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:38,360 I mean, it had teal carpet. Oh, gosh. 149 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:40,360 In a teal kitchen. It was tear. 150 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:43,000 Wow. Mixed all that for him. 151 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:45,640 And yeah, Then I ended up getting another job through a 152 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:47,040 friend. The same kind of thing called me 153 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:48,720 up. I have a job interview for you. 154 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:51,840 This woman just bought a condo in Tuluka Lake and you should go 155 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:53,640 interview. And I was like, I know nothing 156 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:57,560 about figuring out how to get someone's style and design out 157 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:00,080 of their head and mix it with mine and make it come into the 158 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:02,400 real world. But anyway, I took the job. 159 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:07,000 I charged her $25.00 an hour, big money back then and it was 160 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:08,800 great. And so then I shortly thereafter 161 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:10,280 was like, OK, I'll be an interior designer. 162 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:12,640 And I hung a shingle, quit my job. 163 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:15,480 I had $3000 in my pocket and I just went for it. 164 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:18,760 So formal training, I got out of high school year early, never 165 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:21,240 went to college. I figured I could just whatever 166 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:22,480 I wanted to do, I'd learn on the job. 167 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:24,280 And I wasn't going to be a doctor or lawyer that needed 168 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:29,640 that formal education. And I feel the the reality of 169 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:31,960 being out in the workforce is so much more valuable to most 170 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:35,440 people than sitting in a classroom, you know, not having 171 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:38,919 real experiences. Yeah, and it never, it never 172 00:08:38,919 --> 00:08:42,840 hurt your confidence at all, though not having any education 173 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:46,720 doesn't seem like it did. No, I figured, I mean, of course 174 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:49,680 there's always that feeling of like, oh gosh, what am I doing? 175 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:51,560 But even with education, you feel that way. 176 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:54,800 It's not the real world. Doing anything in a classroom is 177 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:58,640 completely in a vacuum and and really unrealistic to what you 178 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:00,560 experience when you suddenly have to do with deal with 179 00:09:00,560 --> 00:09:02,840 people. But I just always knew I'd 180 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:05,080 figure it out. Was like, hey, why not me? 181 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:06,680 If other people can do it, I can do it. 182 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:10,440 And as long as you tell me what's going on, I have a very 183 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:13,240 good understanding of how things work. 184 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:17,800 And I, there was a lot of stumbling through like the 185 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,000 business of the business, right? And that's where I feel like I 186 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:24,480 definitely could have benefited from interning at a firm if I 187 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:26,440 was going to do it again. That probably would have been a 188 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:29,720 really smart move. But I didn't like, how do we 189 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:31,480 bill our clients? What do we charge? 190 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:34,400 What does a contract look like? And then of course, my design 191 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,520 career spanned about 21 years now, I guess. 192 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:41,120 So that was like pre Internet almost. 193 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:45,760 I mean, we were using computers, but it was like word talk, you 194 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:47,520 know? And then, like, e-mail became a 195 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:50,080 thing. I used to call the airlines to 196 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:52,480 book her travel. I remember spending five hours 197 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:55,000 calling 10 airlines and you'd have to write down like every 198 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:57,000 single flight option there ever was. 199 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:00,400 And probably sending. Brazils to delta.com yet? 200 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:02,840 Yeah, yeah. And I mean, all that, it was 201 00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:05,400 just so manual. Yeah, we definitely stumbled 202 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:07,720 through all that learning curve in the beginning. 203 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:10,520 And I didn't really have design friends in the beginning either. 204 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:13,080 It can be a very isolating career, right? 205 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:16,000 Because it's like you're your own little shop and from maybe 206 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:19,400 your suppliers, right? Or showrooms that you shop from 207 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:22,240 or whatnot. So I started years into it, 208 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:24,520 really starting to make some good design friends and then 209 00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:27,360 asking them, how do you do this? What do you do? 210 00:10:27,680 --> 00:10:29,560 I feel like a little fraud sometimes. 211 00:10:29,560 --> 00:10:31,920 What the hell am I doing? And they're like, oh, we do too. 212 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:33,480 And I was like, you feel that way too. 213 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:35,280 You're so amazing thing. And they'd be like, Oh no, 214 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:38,520 that's normal. So I'll pull the chair and 215 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:40,880 encourage people to just ask questions. 216 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:43,200 If you don't understand what someone's talking about, ask, 217 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:45,880 because that's the first way you're going to get off the 218 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:49,600 rails and ask for help, right? And be willing to share. 219 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:52,400 Share your experiences, share what goes wrong as much as you 220 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:55,400 share what goes right. And I think when you're willing 221 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:59,080 to be open and really express your frustrations, your 222 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:03,000 concerns, your mishaps, those things, then you realize that 223 00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:05,200 you're not alone. And other people go through that 224 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:07,600 too. And it breaks down all those 225 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:10,800 facades that I feel like people can very often try to put up. 226 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:13,840 And those facades don't really get any of us anywhere. 227 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:18,720 Yeah, it's transparency is really the key to getting ahead 228 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:21,720 because no one expects you to know everything. 229 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:25,240 There's so much to know with interior design that it's 230 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:27,600 impossible to be the person who knows it all. 231 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:30,120 It's with the community that you can really get ahead. 232 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:31,840 So that's. Yeah, completely. 233 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:35,680 Yeah, great advice. So then how did you get into 234 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,720 having a furniture brand? Well, when I was working for 235 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:43,160 that other lady, Susie, I was sketching furniture for her. 236 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:45,520 She wanted to have a furniture collection, so she just like 237 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:49,880 designed some furniture and I was like, OK, so that just felt 238 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:52,200 very natural. My grandfather was a cabinet 239 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:55,080 maker, so I grew up in his wood shop watching him make cabinets. 240 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:58,360 I made a Barbie sofa out of scrap wood as a kid, Barbie 241 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:01,320 sofa. So she had a nice little wooden 242 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:04,640 on beans bleached. Stain, you know. 243 00:12:04,680 --> 00:12:08,080 Like piece of wood, which I also think it's funny when I look 244 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:10,920 back, like I would make a birdhouse or a dollhouse. 245 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:14,520 Barbie got a new sofa. Yeah, I always liked furniture. 246 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:16,880 And I started making custom pieces for my clients. 247 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:19,640 My first real client with a fabulous house and a real 248 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:21,840 budget. I just felt like, well, I can 249 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:25,640 make you better stuff than I'm finding in the stores that fits 250 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:28,800 your home properly and honestly at a better price. 251 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:32,720 So being like a custom sofa, custom cabinets, custom tables, 252 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:35,360 it just made sense to me to go that route. 253 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:38,720 And one of the ladies on his job, she was kind of the GC. 254 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:41,960 She was really cool and she connected me to a wonderful 255 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:44,320 cabinet maker and furniture maker in Los Angeles. 256 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:48,520 And we still use him today in 20 years later, probably he still 257 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:50,160 makes some case goods for us frequently. 258 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:53,000 I just like going down to the work rooms in the wood shop and 259 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,280 going through that process with the Craftsman and craftswoman. 260 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:59,680 I felt like that was just exciting and inspiring and fun 261 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:02,400 and cool and I like knowing how things are made. 262 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:06,640 I think understanding the functionality of materials, be 263 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:10,520 it in the home itself or in the furniture, it feels more 264 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:13,400 rewarding to me to understand that versus just like picking 265 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:16,880 paint colors and toss pillows. So I'm very much more like a 266 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:19,880 builder designer than just an interior decorator. 267 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:22,400 And I love designing furniture. I think that it's a hard 268 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:26,320 business, but it's a passion. And that also led me to have my 269 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:29,960 first furniture showrooms at a 5000 square foot showroom on 270 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:32,440 Robertson Blvd. in LA Did that for three years. 271 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:34,520 That was an incredible experience as well. 272 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:36,680 And very quickly was like, OK, I don't want to be in the showroom 273 00:13:36,680 --> 00:13:39,200 business. I'll let somebody else do that 274 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:42,600 front end, I'll design and we will go into the trade only 275 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:45,080 model. So our line is represented in 276 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:48,360 eight or nine showrooms around the country, trade only. 277 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:50,840 And that's been a much better fit. 278 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:54,560 And it's really fun to see other designers custom order the 279 00:13:54,560 --> 00:13:57,360 pieces and change the colors and the shapes and the finishes and 280 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:01,480 see their creativity on top of my designs. 281 00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:05,400 It's really fun to see. Yeah, So you're still producing 282 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:09,000 new collections every year? No, we don't do it every year. 283 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:12,360 We probably should, but with all the other balls that I'm drunk 284 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:14,840 constantly. We release new product probably 285 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:18,760 every two years, but it's new for new finishes regularly. 286 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:21,160 So yeah, it's a capsule collection. 287 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:25,560 And then I, I have a probably 7 or 8 licensed collaborations 288 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:28,440 with other companies as well for different types of products. 289 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:31,440 So hardware. I did their Hollywood Hills line 290 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:33,960 and Bella Home. Universal Furniture have 291 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:36,640 furniture lines that I designed with them that are at high 292 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,640 point, different price point, non custom retail focused. 293 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:43,000 Hartman and Forbes. I recently launched A 294 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,080 collaboration with them for beautiful window coverings, 295 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:49,040 rugs, we've got Maribon and Creative Touch. 296 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:52,320 So yeah, quite a few different product collaborations. 297 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:57,720 Yeah, that's wonderful. Are you dreaming of launching 298 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:00,760 your own interior design business but feeling totally 299 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:03,720 overwhelmed by where to start? I get it. 300 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,520 There's so much to figure out. Business structure, branding, 301 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:11,200 contracts, clients. It's enough to stop you before 302 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:14,480 you even begin. That's why I created Launch Your 303 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:18,280 Business Boot Camp, an 8 week course designed to take you from 304 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:22,200 confused to confidence. 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And so then you pivoted into 316 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:03,400 software technology, so somehow came up with Style Row. 317 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:07,960 Was it because of your own project management needs in your 318 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:09,640 company? Is that what brought it on? 319 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:13,160 You got it. Constantly looking for ways to 320 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:15,720 make things better. A best friend jokes that I'm the 321 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,760 president of the Make it Better committee so anything can be 322 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:21,600 made better. Be it the restaurant we're at, 323 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:23,800 the food we're eating, the trip we're taking. 324 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:27,400 Certainly your home environment. I'm like coming up with ideas 325 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:29,760 for that. And as I mentioned, and we 326 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:33,400 started chatting like the, you know, I watched the business 327 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:37,280 landscape and the tools we use daily in work changed so 328 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:39,360 dramatically in the last 20 years. 329 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:45,320 And suddenly e-mail is our 90% communication tool, right? 330 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:47,680 Not telephone anymore, or even fax. 331 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:51,840 So suddenly there were just so many ways and places to 332 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:54,920 communicate about work. Text threads, Instagram, 333 00:16:54,920 --> 00:17:00,640 WhatsApp, Facebook, Pinterest. And I found that information was 334 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:04,680 just everywhere. In the studio, in your phone, in 335 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:07,400 your laptop. There was no one place to look 336 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:10,599 for your point of truth, or for your communication with your 337 00:17:10,599 --> 00:17:13,359 team, or for your communication with your vendors or for your 338 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:16,520 communication with a client. Most importantly, I felt like it 339 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:19,880 was just kind of a disaster. There's stuff literally 340 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:21,640 everywhere. Because I'd be like, OK, well, 341 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:24,079 when did she change her mind about XYZ? 342 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:26,640 Nobody knew. When did they say they wanted 343 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:29,400 pink instead of blue? Like, let's go back and read 344 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:30,800 that. Where was that message? 345 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:32,520 Was it on? Was it on Pinterest? 346 00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:34,960 Was it an e-mail? Was it an e-mail called Sofa? 347 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:36,840 Was it an e-mail called paint color? 348 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:38,840 From pink to blue? Course not, right? 349 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:41,600 And they'll call vacations from Sunday. 350 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:43,360 People just put stuff everywhere. 351 00:17:43,360 --> 00:17:45,560 Yeah. You would spend so much time 352 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:48,800 just looking for answers and looking for that point of truth. 353 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:53,720 Truth and collaborating or gathering documents and data and 354 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:56,480 and copying and pasting and copying and pasting and 355 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:58,440 spreadsheets, which are a nightmare and no one should be 356 00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:00,920 managing in spreadsheets because it's the first way to lose your 357 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:03,480 mind and money. There's got to be a better way. 358 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:07,320 Clearly we are doing it wrong. After close to 20 years in 359 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:08,960 business, I was like, we have to be doing this wrong. 360 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:12,400 And in time, my furniture brand needed a new software system 361 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:13,320 too. And I'm like, there's nothing 362 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:15,800 great for furniture brands or showrooms. 363 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:18,080 There's certainly nothing great for designers. 364 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:19,520 But let me go and try everything. 365 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:21,560 So I started asking all my design friends, what do you use? 366 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:23,720 What do you use? Oh, I use design studio or 367 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:25,560 studio designer. I use design manager. 368 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:27,400 I use Ivy. I use this. 369 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:28,960 I use that. And I was like, well, do you 370 00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:30,000 like it? Is it great? 371 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:31,720 And they were like, Oh no, it's terrible. 372 00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:35,720 I mean, the consensus across all of them was that they might 373 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:38,800 technically provide some support, but that they were 374 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:41,840 terrible experiences, generally hard to use. 375 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:45,280 And being the president of the Make it Better committee, the 376 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:47,840 last thing I want to sign up for is something that's hard to use 377 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:50,600 and generally terrible. That just sounds like a mess. 378 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:54,320 So I did, I tried them all. We spent several years and a lot 379 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:59,000 of time and effort going, OK, well, this solution must make 380 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:01,240 our lives easier. This one's got to be making our 381 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:03,280 lives easier. Somewhere here, one of these is 382 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:06,480 going to make our business better, make us more efficient, 383 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:10,400 make us more profitable, make it more fun to do the boring 384 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:12,680 management stuff that everybody needs to do. 385 00:19:13,120 --> 00:19:16,280 And at the end of the day, they cost us more time, more money, 386 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:18,480 more effort. And it was a miserable 387 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:21,960 experience to use the software. It was hard, confusing. 388 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:24,680 It wasn't intuitive. It felt like it was designed in 389 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:26,960 the 80s by accountants because most of them were. 390 00:19:27,320 --> 00:19:29,520 And I was like, well, this is dumb. 391 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:31,680 I'm not going to use this stuff, but what do I do? 392 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:33,600 Where do I go from here? And at the same time, we were 393 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:38,480 using a sauna and base camp and all these more easy to use, 394 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:41,920 intuitive, better pieces of software layered on top. 395 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:44,920 We were still in Excel, we were still in Dropbox, we were still 396 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:46,760 using Pinterest. We were still emailing every 397 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:48,160 day. We were still text messaging. 398 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:50,040 We were still getting stupid messages from clients on 399 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:51,960 WhatsApp and Instagram all hours of the day. 400 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:55,520 So although those pieces of software that are industry 401 00:19:55,520 --> 00:20:00,400 specific maybe were better accounting workflows, 90% of 402 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:03,640 what we do was still unaccounted for and we were still shotgunned 403 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:05,680 around the office. We were still using 10 different 404 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:09,160 pieces of software to actually do our work, let alone Ryan. 405 00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:12,080 Talk about drafting, right. But just the rest of it. 406 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:15,840 So yeah, it was like, OK, well, I guess I'll raise some money 407 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:18,200 and start a software company. So I did. 408 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,000 I have several friends that have software companies, so they took 409 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:24,080 me under their wing and helped me get started and figure out 410 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:26,040 who to talk to and how this works. 411 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:28,480 And again, I like knowing how things are built. 412 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:31,240 I'm clearly an entrepreneur at heart and have no problem 413 00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:34,680 starting something and find that part really exciting and, and 414 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:36,600 fun. And at the end of the day, 415 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:41,280 working on or building workflows is the same as building a house 416 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:44,000 in many ways, right? It's the same plan, same 417 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:45,840 strategy. You apply the same principles to 418 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:47,320 that business as you do to any other. 419 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:50,000 Clearly, they're very different, but that's what I did. 420 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:53,520 So we raised about 15,000,000 in venture capital, have built some 421 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:56,600 incredible software for the last seven years and have thousands 422 00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:58,760 of design firms using it, running their businesses off of 423 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:00,960 it. And is it as robust an 424 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:03,120 accounting system as some of these others? 425 00:21:03,360 --> 00:21:05,320 Absolutely not. It's just not. 426 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:09,560 But can a design firm completely run their entire business out of 427 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:11,920 it and sync to QuickBooks? For sure. 428 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:14,760 And I don't know about you, but I don't need to export my data 429 00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:16,960 85 different ways like we just got that. 430 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:20,920 But what we do have that others don't is the most incredible 431 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:25,480 client dashboard, client portal, where it truly streamlines all 432 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:27,200 your client feedback communication. 433 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:30,680 Nobody texts me anymore. I don't get 85 emails from 434 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,240 clients. They put everything in the 435 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:36,000 client dashboard and everyone on my team can see it. 436 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:39,440 And that saves me hours and hours and hours of time because 437 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:43,480 I'm no longer regurgitating data to my team and longer copying 438 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:46,320 and pasting into spreadsheets. I'm no longer doing all of these 439 00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:50,520 wasted workflows because we use Style Row and because the way it 440 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:54,160 was built was to truly streamline your communication 441 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:57,360 for your team first and then your communication to your 442 00:21:57,360 --> 00:22:00,320 client second. And we built really robust 443 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:02,080 software that does that. And the best part is clients 444 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,440 love it. They don't want 8000 emails new 445 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:07,120 over 2 years. They don't want spreadsheets and 446 00:22:07,120 --> 00:22:08,800 Dropbox links and Pinterest links. 447 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:10,240 I mean, think about the client side. 448 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:12,720 All the mess and the nightmare that I've been explaining as a 449 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:15,520 designer, it's just as bad if you're the client. 450 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:18,560 Like, why would you want to sign your client up for a bad 451 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:21,040 experience? We need this referral business. 452 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,840 We need them to be thrilled. We need them to hire us again 453 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:28,760 and refer us to their friends. And so if you feel your process 454 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:32,080 is clunky on your side, put yourself in your client's shoes 455 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:33,920 for a minute. And all the things I tried to 456 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:36,040 do, like figure that out. What are we spending? 457 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:40,120 What's been ordered? What did I approve think fabric 458 00:22:40,120 --> 00:22:42,080 we ordered. I want to show my friend, most 459 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:44,440 workflows that designers are doing are not actually built to 460 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:47,120 set their client up for success. And they're not certainly not 461 00:22:47,120 --> 00:22:50,360 built for that client to share your beautiful designs with 462 00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:52,560 their friends and their friends are going to be your new 463 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:55,600 clients. Client dashboard is so you can 464 00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:59,360 put anything in it, site photos, inspiration, images, products, 465 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:03,320 PDFs, drawings, invoices. We send everything to our client 466 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:05,120 through that. We do not e-mail them anything. 467 00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:08,200 We do not text them stuff. We do not send them random links 468 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:10,440 to things like everything is in style row. 469 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:13,560 So they can just go there anytime they want and see it 470 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:16,160 all. And yet as a designer, you 471 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:17,720 control what your client sees as well. 472 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:20,720 The name, the price, the downloads, you can turn it all 473 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:22,560 off. You can turn versions of that on 474 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:24,920 and off. So it's highly customizable, I 475 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:28,520 don't waste my time doing a ridiculous PDF presentation. 476 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:31,960 It's a huge time suck and at the end of the day, you don't ever 477 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:34,040 use it again. So I spend 8 or 10 hours in 478 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:37,920 Keynote and then I have to version a new version and e-mail 479 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:40,360 it and change it and e-mail it, Change it and e-mail it, Change 480 00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:42,720 it and e-mail it, change it and e-mail it again. 481 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:44,600 That client just received 10 PDFs from you. 482 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:47,040 How to which one was real and right? 483 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:49,520 It's a huge waste of time for everyone. 484 00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:52,200 So our client dashboard completely circumvents that and 485 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:54,440 we just don't do it. We don't create physical 486 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:57,360 presentations. We don't layer sofas and light 487 00:23:57,360 --> 00:23:59,280 fixtures on a little PowerPoint slide. 488 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:02,160 Now you can export from Style Road to PowerPoint. 489 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:04,960 So for those. So really, really that is a 490 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:08,800 crucial part of their process. But I'd challenge you to see if 491 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,240 it really is because we just don't do that anymore. 492 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:13,440 We don't create purchase orders and send them to vendors. 493 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,480 It's ridiculous. We don't create PDFs and send 494 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:18,000 them to our clients. It's ridiculous. 495 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:21,880 In Style Row, they can have four or five images of the one chair. 496 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:24,280 It's a carousel. They can have four or five 497 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:26,440 images of the rug of all these products. 498 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:28,680 So it's actually a much better client experience to get to 499 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:32,040 products that way like you would online. 500 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:35,440 Everyone's used to that format and Style Row allows you to do 501 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:38,400 that. Plus, it allows me as a manager 502 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:42,200 and owner to keep an eye on my projects to see what my clients 503 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:45,200 and my teams are talking about because I can see all their 504 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:48,160 communication. And I get trigger emails when my 505 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:51,720 client responds or when my team changes its status on something. 506 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:54,880 So I know when people are working and I know what's been 507 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:58,280 changed and how it's gone. And I can jump in at any point 508 00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:01,560 on a thread if I want and say no, no, we're doing this. 509 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:05,800 And you can't do that when your team is emailing people without 510 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:07,560 you. And that's where things can also 511 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,600 go off the rails. The team member leaves, right? 512 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:13,840 And suddenly you're like, Oh my gosh, what did they say and do? 513 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:16,280 Well, we communicate only on a style row. 514 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:20,160 And so if your team changes, it becomes really, really easy to 515 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:22,960 just have seamless, uninterrupted business. 516 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:25,480 So it becomes that point of truth for my firm. 517 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:31,160 And yeah, and I love. It makes a lot of sense, and one 518 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:35,560 of the things I really love too is that it allows the client to 519 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:38,720 maintain that excitement in the process because they can always 520 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:41,000 go back and look at. The Beautiful. 521 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:44,400 Boards and it's just there and they can show it off like you 522 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:46,560 said, when their friends come over like, oh, you're redeeming 523 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:49,480 your house, so let's see like what your designers done and so 524 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:52,600 they can go and check it out. Yeah. 525 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:56,480 So is it an app or is it a platform that they get emailed 526 00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:00,440 notifications or how did they make sure they see what it is 527 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:01,680 that you're communicating to them? 528 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:04,320 Yeah. So it's a web-based platform, 529 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:07,320 so. And then there is a mobile app 530 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:09,800 or it's mobile optimized, I should say, particularly the 531 00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:12,960 client dashboard with photo extensions for iOS. 532 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:15,040 So if you're going to trade shows, you can download our 533 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:18,600 photo extension and then quickly upload photos into digital 534 00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:20,960 library on Style Row. So everything you put in a 535 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,480 project is also being saved in your library so that when you do 536 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,760 that next project, it becomes really quick to just build out 537 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:29,120 your design. So there's definitely a lot of 538 00:26:29,120 --> 00:26:31,880 efficiencies. The more you use it, the more 539 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:34,840 there we have export to XLS well. 540 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:38,240 So if you need to get the lighting fixture schedule or all 541 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,320 the products that you purchased exported to an Excel, that takes 542 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:45,440 seconds, not hours. And so designers, yeah, sign up 543 00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:50,280 for an account and then you make some products or items visible 544 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:52,760 to your client and you just put their e-mail address in the 545 00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:55,600 platform and it sends them a nice little invitation e-mail. 546 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:57,440 They don't have to create an account or login. 547 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,000 They literally just put in their name because there's 548 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:03,600 communication, you need to know who is chatting with you and 549 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:05,400 that's it. So then they just have that link 550 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,600 and they can save that link on their phone. 551 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,160 Looks like an app, right? So it's like a QikLink. 552 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:13,760 So they can do that. Otherwise, we usually send them 553 00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:17,120 an invitation e-mail, but we draft and we put the link right 554 00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:20,200 there and the subject is like your style row account so that 555 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:23,800 they can always find it. But then once they've accepted 556 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:27,600 and they click in and they put their name, it's now or you're 557 00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:30,520 synced in that way. So any messages I send from the 558 00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:34,040 Style Row platform in our little messages box, you hit enter, 559 00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:38,000 it's sending a trigger e-mail to your client saying your designer 560 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,960 just commented on this chair in this room in this project. 561 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:43,280 And they just click it and then they go right into it. 562 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:44,800 And again, they don't have to login. 563 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:48,120 It's super easy for them. And so every time I message them 564 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:52,040 from the item in the platform, they get an e-mail and it makes 565 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:54,120 it really simple. That's great, Yeah. 566 00:27:54,120 --> 00:27:56,240 Because a lot of that frustration is like, oh, what 567 00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:59,480 was my password? Or, you know, it's like another 568 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:03,040 place and I can't access it. And so that taking that 569 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:06,240 frustration out for the client on the client side is huge, 570 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:08,680 yeah. Super important. 571 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:11,080 It's built with efficiency. It's built to make you more 572 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:13,080 profitable. It's built to help you tame the 573 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:15,880 insanity. But it's really built for your 574 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:18,040 client to love working with your firm. 575 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:20,160 Yeah, and none of the others were. 576 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:22,920 Others say they have a client presentation and you look at it 577 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:26,720 and it's like a photo on a invoice on a client present. 578 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:27,960 Well, I'm like, what are you talking about? 579 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:33,200 You know, and we have our users say they save like 2/3 of their 580 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:38,080 back office time is saved. And who doesn't want to be able 581 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:39,320 to be more efficient with your work? 582 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:40,040 Right. For sure. 583 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:41,640 Yeah. And now if you're on time 584 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:43,760 billing and you're like, but now I'm not making as much money, 585 00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:45,280 well, that's just the wrong way to look at it. 586 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:49,200 Right now you just take your time doing more profitable tasks 587 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:52,520 like in product and making that 30% markup. 588 00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:56,960 Then you lump laboring over some ridiculous little task. 589 00:28:58,080 --> 00:28:59,960 You can do more projects in the same time. 590 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:02,560 Yeah, you're definitely going to run a more profitable business. 591 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:05,520 And at the end of the day, your client would rather spend their 592 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:08,080 money buying beautiful products products and you make more 593 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:09,560 money. I mean everyone makes more money 594 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:12,280 on purchasing than they do on the actual admin of the hours. 595 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:14,440 And if you're not running your business that way, you're doing 596 00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:16,040 it wrong. So to hate young people. 597 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:17,880 Don't give away your designer discount. 598 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:21,840 That's for you, not for them. Add your markup and be strong 599 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:23,720 about it. You should be cheaper than 600 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:26,040 retail and that's all they need to know. 601 00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:28,160 Yeah, that's great. OK. 602 00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:32,440 So, so many good things. I think everyone would want to 603 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:34,840 go and sign up for Style Raw. It's going to make their life so 604 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:37,600 much easier with managing their projects. 605 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:42,800 And I know that you also have the client facing side, that you 606 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:47,960 have some courses that you do as well for helping homeowners to 607 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:51,880 remodel or get a handle on what they want to do without maybe if 608 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:53,280 they're doing it on their own, right? 609 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:57,880 Yeah, absolutely. So under Aaron B Design Studio, 610 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:00,760 I created a series of DIY courses. 611 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:03,440 I've actually had a lot of interior designers and and young 612 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:06,280 designers or people transitioning in their careers 613 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:09,920 do the courses as well. So I've did a whole series on 614 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:12,920 kitchen and bathroom modelling and just design and decorating 615 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:16,920 in general that's available and it's great. 616 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:18,240 That's great. Yeah, we'll make sure. 617 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:20,880 There's the knowledge. Yeah, yeah. 618 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:23,280 I think our listeners would definitely be interested in 619 00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:26,120 maybe checking some of those out too, because they're trying to 620 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:29,840 get on their feet as a designer and the more you know, it's 621 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:33,040 better. So exactly, Yep, if you buy one 622 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:37,040 of the courses or the package, you get access to a portal and 623 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:39,360 it's all in there. So there's video lessons, 624 00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:41,840 there's some downloads, there's some workbooks. 625 00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:45,360 I take you through a lot of my own projects from start to 626 00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:47,800 finish. The way I work with clients, the 627 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,400 way I handle billing, the way we work with contractors, 628 00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:53,080 specifying materials, our favorite materials. 629 00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:55,560 There's a lot of lot of good stuff in there. 630 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:57,880 Good, wonderful. OK. 631 00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:01,360 Well, any other advice that you might have for someone starting 632 00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:03,760 out in their career in interior design? 633 00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:08,360 I'd say just do it, have fun. I think one of the major points 634 00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:11,160 that I see with a lot of young people or people starting, I 635 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:12,840 don't want to keep saying young people because not everybody 636 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:16,400 gets in this business is young, but think about your social 637 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,480 media presence and what you're putting forward as your work 638 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:22,600 face, if you will. We didn't have this 20 years 639 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:25,400 ago. It's so easy to affordably 640 00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:29,480 market yourself these days on Instagram and Facebook and just 641 00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:32,560 make sure that you're really putting forward the vision that 642 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:36,080 you want people to see of you in a business perspective. 643 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:39,000 That's one of the biggest kind of gotchas the people start off 644 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:40,040 with. They're like, well, I don't have 645 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,360 beautiful photos of rooms I've done, sure, but there's lots of 646 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:45,160 beautiful photos out there that you can share. 647 00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:48,160 And you can of course tag and, and give credit to whomever did 648 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:50,800 the work. But you can put together your 649 00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:55,480 own aesthetic to represent who you are and what your taste is. 650 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,920 Maybe even just do some tight photographs of your home if 651 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:00,920 there's some pretty corners or nooks. 652 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:03,920 Less is more. And rendering these days is 653 00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:06,520 actually quite affordable. You could go and hire a renderer 654 00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:09,960 to render a room that you designed right with those 655 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:12,120 renderings out there. That's your work. 656 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:14,560 Just because nobody ever built it doesn't mean it's not your 657 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:16,360 work. And so there's some really 658 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:20,400 clever ways, especially with AI in visualization, the costs have 659 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:25,040 come down of rendering spaces so greatly that I mean, most 660 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:27,840 magazine ads these days, there was aren't photographs, those 661 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:29,600 are renders. It's dark carpet. 662 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:31,720 I mean, all these guys, they're putting their rug in a gorgeous 663 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:33,040 space that's completely rendered. 664 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:34,160 And there's nothing wrong with that. 665 00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:38,360 And so I think just to be clever about the way you kind of get 666 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:42,040 over that hump from zero to 60 where you're like, I don't have 667 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:44,680 images of my work and less is more. 668 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:48,240 And I think just really take a keen eye to your presence that 669 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:50,680 you're putting out there because it might be dogs and kids and 670 00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:53,480 babies and food on your Instagram, but that's the number 671 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:57,120 one place people are going to go look at you first and see if 672 00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:00,080 your vibe matches their vibe. That's all you have to do is 673 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:02,880 create the right vibe and people are going to start coming there 674 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:05,960 and going, oh, that's beautiful. Oh wow, that's great taste. 675 00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:09,960 Most of these influencers that are so popular these days, they 676 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:12,480 don't do anything except to actually curate. 677 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:15,640 And you're very similar to that. So think of yourself as an 678 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:17,200 influencer. You're an interior design 679 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:19,880 influencer, you're influencing the way people live. 680 00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:22,200 Your taste is why they're hiring you. 681 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:25,120 And so you just really have to show that you have good taste or 682 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:27,320 taste that matches your future clients. 683 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:28,800 Right, right. Yeah. 684 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:30,560 Well, that's great you. Back it up with the skill. 685 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:32,760 So then you do the courses and then you get in style row and 686 00:33:32,760 --> 00:33:35,560 then you're all set. There you go and you got a 687 00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:38,640 career. No thanks, Aaron, That's a lot 688 00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:40,960 of great information. We'll put your contact 689 00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:44,200 information in the show notes so people can get in touch with you 690 00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:48,320 and style row and get going on what they need to do. 691 00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:49,960 So thank you for coming on today. 692 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:51,320 Fantastic. Thanks, Rebecca. 693 00:33:51,320 --> 00:34:00,440 It was a pleasure. All right, so if you'd like to 694 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:05,160 reach out to Erin and talk to her more about her product or 695 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:09,920 take some of her courses, you can find her contact information 696 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:12,679 in the show notes. That is all I have for this 697 00:34:12,679 --> 00:34:14,440 week. Next week we'll have another 698 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:17,400 great episode. And in the meantime, you can 699 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:21,239 check the show notes for all the information on my Launch Your 700 00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:24,639 Business Boot camp. You're going to get in right now 701 00:34:24,639 --> 00:34:27,480 because right now we are doing all the pre work. 702 00:34:27,679 --> 00:34:32,320 We're going to get started July the first week and start that 703 00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:37,080 eight week process of getting you from zero to your own 704 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:39,639 business, from dreaming to designing. 705 00:34:39,639 --> 00:34:42,840 And so if this summer, if that's one of your goals, you can 706 00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:45,320 actually sign up and get in the program right now. 707 00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:48,760 There's some pre work to do. So I'd love to see you in there. 708 00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:50,760 Message me if you have any questions. 709 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:54,280 I'd love to hear from you. Until next week, stay creative. 710 00:34:55,639 --> 00:34:58,680 Thanks for listening. If you love this episode, please 711 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,440 leave a rating and a review. This helps me reach other 712 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:05,200 curious creatives like you. If you have a topic request or 713 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:08,480 would like to contact me, simply head over to my website 714 00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:14,800 ourawarddesign.com or e-mail me at podcast@ourawarddesign.com.