Latest / Big Talk About Small Business / Ep. 38 - Weaving Personal Narratives into Interior Design with Becky Charton

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Ep. 38 - Weaving Personal Narratives into Interior Design with Becky Charton · Big Talk About Small Business

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: okay, everybody.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Um, we're back with another episode of big talk about small business.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Uh, we've got a guest here in the studio with us today, and that is becky charton.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: And uh, hey, becky, welcome to.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: Hi, thank you for having me.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm sitting here with my partner Eric as well, eric.
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: Howerton.
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: Hello Mark, thank you, I'm doing great.
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: Appreciate you, man.
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: I appreciate you.
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: I'm excited about this one.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Me too, hey, no, I am too Becky's a character, okay, oh.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: She, she's a character.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: No, she is In a great way, in a great way.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: I can't wait to hear about it.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: So Becky, though, is an interior designer, and she's got a very successful business, and I know it's got an unusual name Table Setters Inc.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: Tell us about that.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, like it's a name that's like sentimental.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: I'm a huge like fan of sentiment.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: So I've had two careers in my life and will probably have another maybe more than one, if I live to 105 or something.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Nothing wrong with that.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: The life's too short to do the same thing forever.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Eric and I have changed a lot.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: I know I like that.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: I like that.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: It's inspiration.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: So my first career, when I was retiring from that career, my mentor said that we were like table setters we prepared the feast so everyone else could dine and enjoy the feast, but we set the tables.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: I see.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: And so at the time I was also doing a lot of wedding coordinating, Loved that industry.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: Honestly, I would have stayed in it if it wasn't a weekend gig.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah right.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: But started doing both and was like you know what I can hang on to design it's during the week, but that's where it came from table setters and I've had a hard time letting go of it.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: Although it doesn't speak to all that we do, I do love the name, so we go by TSI a lot.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: Okay, yeah we just shortened it a bit, I see.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Well, I thought like it came from setting tables professionally or something.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we came from setting tables professionally or something.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we do that, you know.
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: So would you say that it's kind of the meaning behind it with interior design is like you're really like your home, or the environment is like if you set that table it's like you're hosting.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: You're hosting life Absolutely.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, like we like to say that we really love spatial design.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Right, and because we really are, I told the client one time and he was real reluctant to hire me.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: He was recently divorced and wasn't sure that he should be doing his house, designing his house.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: Didn't know he had his own style.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: And I said this will work if you let me know you.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: And he's like I don't know what you mean and I was like we're relationship based, like if you don't let me know you, I can't create this home that works for you, this environment that works for you.
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: And it's the part that, like it is a core value sorry, an EOS thing, but it is a core value, that it relationships first.
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: And so, like I tell people, like honestly, I really don't care about your lamp, don't care about your sofa, like.
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: I love relationships and it's really what drives me in my business.
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: So how does that work?
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: How?
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: do you get to know them?
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: To start like, yeah, it's a dance at the beginning and, um cause, we've taken it like even farther than just like getting to know our little clients, like it's also about our relationship with our vendors, our subs.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: Like if we build these relationships and some of them we don't align with.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: You know you might still have to work with them over a three year project, but some of those people then go on with you in your, in your career, because you built this relationship and you're aligned, so you just get it.
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: You get each other, you want to do more work together and so at the beginning, when we first get a client, it takes a lot of time and it's a lot of conversation.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: It's going to, you know, coffee, it's like sitting down in their home, like having someone sit down to meet with you, it's bringing them into your space and I just, I think there's just this, yeah.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: You've got to have that in order to be able to influence them to do what they need to do, right.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: And it's such an intimate career.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: I mean like we're in people's closets, you know, and I want people right, and I want people right, and I want people to trust us and I feel like we've built that over 26 years.
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: I'm so proud Congratulations, thank you.
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: You know, I think that, like on this, this relationship discussion, right it is a lot easier said than done.
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: I don't.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: I think that you know it's one of those things that can business that, where people kind of have heartily say that and they know it's important, right, yeah, build relationships.
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: But it seems like that you really take that down to the right level and you're investing your time and, yeah, and, by the way, if you're running a business like, you need to know how much time you need to invest to establish that relationship, because that's all kind of part of what you need to be charging.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: It's all part of your cost.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: It is yeah To do what you do.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: We call it our discovery phase.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: You know, and there's parts of that that just aren't, are non-billable.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: I took this course over COVID about marketing, because I didn't think I marketed, because I have a marketing plan, and then I took this course and I was like oh, we actually do market.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: We just didn't call it that, but it is that discovery phase where some people take a lot more time I've spent a lot more time with them and then some people just get it right away.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: But when I look, I mean what's interesting about our business?
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: When I look at our clientele list from these 26 years, it's shockingly small and I'm like how have we done this for 26 years?
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: And it's because we call them lifers, so we just have people that keep coming back around and like hiring us for all the things.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: Like our three-year vision with eos sorry is um is uh.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: Our three-year vision when is the magic bullet for everything.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: No, I'm kidding I know I just had that, I'm just gonna.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: You just said to throw that in, did you like?
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Oh?
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: she's been bulking you, I've been drinking the kool-aid and it's yummy.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: God um but, five years you'll never hear about EOS.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: I know It'd be like TQM.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Remember when we all went through that.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: No see, I don't, I've already forgot.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, I'm older than you, that's why you don't remember.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: But go on.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, we shouldn't have interrupted you.
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: No, it's fun.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: I don't even know what we were talking about now, so there we go, but.
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: But we were talking about relationships and marketing.
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: And yeah, you're talking about you didn't realize you're marketing, yes, yes, when, when you're spending that time with those clients and we, so we call them lifers.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: And so these clients, as we really look at our clientele, they keep coming back.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: I mean, I had one lady um and she they'd never hired a designer.
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: They hired us, about maybe five years ago, a referral from my um av company, like of all things, but they bought a house we had done um, they call, never had hired a designer.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: And now she's like becky, you do know that you will be with me the rest of my life, you know, and we're wedding.
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, wow, like, and we're diverse of our three-year plan is to start working generational, because my very first client, her son, just hired us to do his office building in Little Rock.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: That's great.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: So that's a cool like milestone, I think, in business to say now we're working on a second generation of clientele.
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's really cool a second generation of clientele.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really cool.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Well, it seems like I mean, I'm sure you've experienced this in the residential area in particular and I know that's not all you do, obviously but it seems like people get this idea.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: It's like I saw this room on Pinterest and I want that thing like that or that room, but it doesn't go with anything else and they have no plan for their house.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: They look at each area in isolation, with no sort of grand scheme and context for the whole thing yeah Do you discover that a lot.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: A lot, and I think even early on, when, like HGTV and do it yourself like movement, like just really it.
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: It hurt us, but it also catapulted our industry both, if you ask me because all people feel like it's attainable.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: Now it's not just this level of people that can hire a designer.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: So I love that part because I love those small projects.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: We don't do as many anymore, but I love them, um, because they're super grateful.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: They happen really quick.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: They they like trust you a little bit more, um, versus like these big budgets with you know lots of exposure and that kind of thing.
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: But I think the key for us when we get that like that whole, like I want to I'm going to take it a bit farther.
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: When someone's like I want this exact thing, like kelly worstler made this, you know vanity and we want to build it exactly like this.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: Like for us, like we don't, we don't play, you know keeping up with the joneses, like you know, I mean.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: Like we want to create something that's yours.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: What's your style?
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: Let's develop your style, um, and and go from there and it is.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: It's a challenge and they're not our right client.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: We don't like copycats.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: That's like trying to be a famous musician and singing other people's music and never writing your own.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: You're only going to go so far with that.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, at some point you've got to be.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Even though there's nothing new under the sun, like our inspiration comes from somewhere, like you still have.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: Even though there's nothing new under the sun, like our inspiration comes from somewhere Sure Like you still have to be original.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Right, it's the way you kind of put it all together and the combination of elements that creates the environment that you're.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: Definitely Not traditional.
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: If somebody went down that road, like the Pinterest road and everything, I mean.
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: My experience because I've done something like that right is that when you get done with it, you're out of place of what you just created or tried to create.
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: Right, because it is not you.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you know and I like it.
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: I like what you're talking about.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: Like that because it's not about knowing all the new trends and what's the new styles.
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: It's right.
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: If you don't end up with something that you walk into.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: That you feel comfortable in, because you feel your identity there.
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: You're not going to be happy with it.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: No, it doesn't matter what you buy.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: It's like you have to build your own story.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: You know you talk about like I've been learning about marketing and how people like stories to attach to what you're trying to sell Storytelling.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: That's the big thing.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Storytelling that's another buzzword, storytelling and what about experiences?
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: It's true, let's have an experience into that, okay, I want to lean into that one.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: And then, by the way, pivot.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, pivot, pivot yeah, yeah, yeah yeah and no, but you're right though it is.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: It is the stories, it is the, the building of the, the yeah yeah if you can yeah, you can help someone like that's the thing, like it.
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: There's not a style we do.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: There is a method in which we do design, like people say what's your style?
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: My style is like order it's very placement yeah scale but, it's not tuscan, it's not modern.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: It's not modern.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: It's not these things, it's how we do it, but because your home needs to be you, you need to go in.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: In fact, I have a good story.
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: Can I tell a story?
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: Please, can I tell a story?
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Mark, of course.
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: Can she story tell, Mark?
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Let's pivot to your story Go.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: I'm going to pivot to a story.
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: Go Hit it, becky.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: I'm going to pivot to a story that I learned through EOS.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: No, when I first started and I was like I mean, I'm not educated in this field, like did not finish college, like worked hard, had multiple jobs, all I wanted to do was work because I loved my work and so I learned by doing so, like I really have like a lot of life lessons to get to where I am.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: But one of the first houses I did, I finished doing this dining room and it looked just beautiful and I was so proud of it.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: And I walk out and the client's walking out with me and the neighbor comes over and I'm getting in my car and I've said my goodbye and I hear my client say come in and see this amazing dining room.
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: I just did, and I thought she just did, like she just did the dining room.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: Wait a minute, I did the dining room.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: So I'm driving away like processing this conversation, thinking how, why, what's your, what's wrong?
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: What's the deal?
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: And I realized like for me to be successful, every time I walk away, they should be bringing their mother-in-law, their neighbor, the plumber, to see what they have done, if they say they did it, then that was a successful job no, you, you're right, but I understand it's kind of a blow to your ego in a way.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: you know it's like, well, you're taking credit for yeah, that isn't right, but that's the goal though, right.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: It's their home.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, it's not your design, it's their home.
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: It's their home.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: Right, it's.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: That's the success.
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: That's a good slogan for you oh, what is it?
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: It's, uh, it's, it's not it's your home, not my design yeah, I like that yeah, a lot of architects need to learn that one.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they do.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: They want to impose their will on on you, whether you like it or not, because if I saw that, I'd be like I don't like that because it is my freaking home.
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: Dang it.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: It's my money and you're yeah, that's right, and you hired becky yeah okay.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I need somebody to help me not to owe me yeah well the thing is with with this design stuff, though it seems like people get wedded to these overly thematic.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: You know, like 15 years ago, everything was craftsman.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: And then I found myself, like I did this one house where it was super craftsman-y, it had all the elements exposed rafter tails and big overhanging eaves and tapered columns and all of it.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: And then inside I started doing the same thing and we made all the furniture and the cabinets.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: It got so craftsman-y and so hard-edged that I went.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Honestly, I hated it.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: It was like anything you put in here that doesn't look like it came out of the 1920s bungalow book, right right, looks like crap, didn't work, and now today it's like even my mom, who passed away at 103 in November last year.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: That's a fact, congratulations.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Within the last couple months.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: She says to me one day on the phone.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: She goes what is it with every new house?
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: It's white with black windows.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: It's a freaking farmhouse thing.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: I go, I don't know what it is but they're all doing it, but people get on these kicks and it seems you've got to break them out of that, don't you think?
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Because it gives you so much more flexibility, it does Like where you go from there later.
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: I feel like there's like.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: I tell people all the time there's like two different kinds of designers and I relate it to fashion, which I personally love, fashion just in its Sure.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: I'm hanging on to it.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: You're just in design and everything as my hobby, you know, because it's my way of creating personally.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: But, um, there's two different kinds of designers and it's like fashion.
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: So there are designers that, like you see their space and you're like I know who did that.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: Like it's obvious, like that's why I wanted to meet you.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: I love the houses you were doing.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: They all look the same.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: But I was like, oh my gosh, like he does such a good job, I want to meet this guy.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: Um, and so they that similar to like carrying a bag that has a logo on it right, or a belt buckle with a logo, and there's nothing wrong with that.
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: It gets boring after a while.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: There's people that like that.
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: Sure.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: Whether it's status, whether it's they finally arrive, like whatever it is for them.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: No, you're right.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: And then there is design that is unrecognizable.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: Right, it's just good.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: And it's good and it's appropriate and it's tells the story, it's individual, it's owned and um, that's what we do.
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: So if you want to sign up for like the time and the effort and building a lifelong relationship and become a lifer, you know that's our lane, like this, this is our lane.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: You're like.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: You're like a tailor, yeah you're the tailor, yeah it's easier to get repeat business when that's the way you're doing it, because otherwise, like I did that, I don't want that.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Now I want something else yeah.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I totally get that.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: So let's step back for a minute, though.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: You started to tell us early on how you got into this business.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: What did you do before?
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: Okay, so I worked.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: Let's see I started.
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: Should we go back to fourth grade when I taught?
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: Do whatever you want.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: I was just taught like.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: I was raised in a very like small minded I'm going to say environment.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: It was a religious environment, it was very sheltered and it has done me great.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: And then there's been a lot I've had to learn coming out of that.
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: But so I worked like three jobs in college.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: Didn't know why I was going to college except my parents were making me and I would rather be at work Like I loved work and I realize now it's because, like that's how I learn.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: I learn by doing Sure.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: And so, like, book learning was really difficult for me, and so I was working at a church and then they hired someone to be my boss and my boss asked me to marry him.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: About four weeks in I thought my life is ruined.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: I either have to marry someone I don't know know, or I have to leave a job I love.
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: So I kept the job and married the guy and so I say we dated our first 10 years of marriage, but anyway, so we ran this great youth program.
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: We had youth camps, summer youth camps, and it was loads of fun.
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: It was project-based, which I realize now I thrive on.
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: I like a beginning and an end.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, um, it was loads of fun.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: It was project based, which I realized now I like, thrive on.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: Um, I like, I like an end, a beginning and an end.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it is.
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: I get that totally yeah, and then when you see them in the rear view mirror you're like okay, that's done.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Now we move on to the next one.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: It's like that endorphin to get with a check mark, cause it's like oh, I did something.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: I accomplished it.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: We understand that totally.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, both yeah, love it Love it, love it, love it.
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: And so towards the end of that, like we knew that wasn't our life forever, and so we retired, and then we were just like wandering, you know, like what's next, and I had decorated a cute little house and decorated everybody who got married that I knew in my church and all the people I was doing weddings for, and so just for fun, and someone said you should go work at this furniture store and it was a new concept, they were called Norwalk and they had like frames, but then the designers at the store would help you like pick the fabric and customize it.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: And so I spent about three years there and learned a lot.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: Now I also will tell you there was pain because I didn't know how to be in public.
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: Like it was such a big learning curve, like the pressure of sales and it was wow.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: Some of the stories like are amazing from that time period.
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: But I got to see the front end and the back end hated sales felt like I was lying so they moved me into like the back end where I set up vendors and learned how to um like manage the warehouse and Q you know, just check all everything that was coming and going and place all the orders.
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: So I learned the back end of design basically the whole process.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: That's probably was helpful.
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: It was and I got, I got that part and so, um so I was still pretty miserable cause I wasn't being creative, like it was.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: Just it wasn't the right fit, wasn't the right people, but great education and um so, uh, a friend said hey, I'm dating this guy, his mom, my first client.
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: Now I'm working for the guy she was dating, but my mom, she needs like someone to do her whole house.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: Can you do more than furniture?
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: I was like sure I can.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah sure.
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: So I was like, yeah, I'll sign up.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: And so my husband's like, listen, he had a business degree.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: He's like we'll set you up a business If you can make $12,000 the first year we can make it.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: I said okay, $12,000.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: Okay, okay, I can do this.
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: So we got a DVA.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: I went to town, started that first project.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: That was 26 years ago and I made $12,500.
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: Nice, dang it, you did it yeah.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: Awesome, you crossed the threshold.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Good job the.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you crossed the threshold.
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: The next year I doubled, went 25,000.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: But anyway, so that's how I got started and I just it was that honestly I call it the table setters family tree, like when you look at my client base and like how they it's referral based, because I don't market Well, I do, but just so the people we're working to for and you look at it, it is so like connected, like it's it's not this grand, huge tree because, like you can see, hey, this is Arkansas Becky.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Everybody's only two degrees separated from everybody else.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: So it's such a great place to do that.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: You know what you're talking about.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: You're right.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: So is Kevin.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Was he the guy that you met?
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Then?
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: He was the guy.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: Oh my God.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: What is still on the first husband.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Holy cow, that's unusual, wow.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: You know what that's?
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: four weeks, that was a quick decision Four weeks and.
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: I was like, wow, this has ruined my life.
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: Is how it started.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: It took me three days before I said yes, let's call Kevin in here.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Kevin.
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: Tell us how you ruined Becky's life.
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: Tell you, that's funny.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so we're.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: He's at the window.
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: He's so cute.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we're at 30.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: What year is this?
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're 34 years.
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you.
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: Can I mention something Because I think it's important the audience to?
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of folks that get into wanting to start their own business or even people that start out, they're young in their career.
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: Feel this pressure that they have to figure everything out and they're young in their career.
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: Feel like, feel this pressure that they have to figure everything out and exactly what they want.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: But that was not my experience.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: It wasn't yours.
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: It's not yours, Like there's a lot of time, Like I look back and I'm like what, how did I get here?
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: Like I studied photojournalism.
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: But yeah there is a thread so like I've been realizing my old age.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Now, like what is it?
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: You're getting very introspective I am.
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: Yes, I am, I'm looking back starting here a second.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: I have a lot.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: This is you're just starting.
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: It's great, I kind of like it because I'm like, I'm like what I like.
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: What I like is content.
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: I like communications.
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: Sure, and people need content to communicate, but I mean it all threads back, but I mean goodness sakes the software business is related to that you provide a content to customers, and this is yeah, this is for sure.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: I mean it's all related.
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: But I mean, the point is, there is no plan and as you go in business what you did, yeah, yeah you had this opportunity, you took it.
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: Oh, I like that.
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: Oh, this builds another one and this refers here.
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you don't have to have a freaking 20 freaking sheets spreadsheet that it calculates every freaking pen.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: I swear I had this discussion with the with in class last week you don't with with my guest speaker is a 37 year old woman and she owns a 3pl.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Okay, it's very successful.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: She was one of my students and her husband 3pl yeah.
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: Third party logistics provider thank you for the acronym clarification.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: You know what this part of our mission is not to use acronyms mark she's got 90,000 square feet of space and she's got a business that's going to do six million bucks this year and revenue she's.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: But anyway her husband is and it's gotten into real estate.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: They've got maybe 15 properties and she said he wants to have this strategic plan that you follow, exactly like this.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: And she goes it's not like that.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: You've got to be responsive to opportunities in the market and if you're too rigid then this doesn't work.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: You know, boy, you have gone so far to come to that realization Totally.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: But I want to go back to Becky's business for a minute Now.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Tell us so.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: That was 26 years ago.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: You started it.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: You've got two locations now, right, fayetteville and Little Rock.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Tell us about the character of the business today and what you're doing, because it's really.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: The scope is increased dramatically.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so you know from I say you know I started in my guest room and then I went to a garage apartment between my two neighbors I call them neighbor neighbors and you know and now I have two offices and I have, you know, just a team of seven.
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: So it's not crazy crazy big.
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: It's very manageable.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: Um, I would love to be about 10, but I think that's my, my threshold probably.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: Um, and yeah, we've been able with the talent we have, and I really contribute that to being in Northwest Arkansas, like so grateful I had a job up here in 2013.
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: A client project.
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: In Fayetteville, yeah yeah, and it was someone from, you know, central Arkansas and they were doing a project here and they brought me up to do the project and then I was like, oh, and then I had another big project.
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: It was a referral from the cabinet people and then I got another referral and did that job and it was interesting because it's I kept thinking I was just doing projects in Fayetteville and you know, Kevin's like you've spent 186 nights in Fayetteville, Wow, Like you know, like maybe we should buy a place there.
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: And then one of my lifers said we're going to build a forever home, and so I was like, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to take Ruth.
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: You know, this is like I'm going to be here for a while.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: And so now I would say, because of being here, I think there's so much opportunity here Like it is insane, the opportunity in Northwest Arkansas and there's so much missing in my industry here, like the support for my industry, that there's just so much room for growth still.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: I agree.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: I mean it's unbelievable, it is.
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: It really is, and so I feel like I have been able to build like a rock star team because of the location.
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah, sure.
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: You know, like so one of our, one of our our designers, like you know, moved here.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: His husband got transferred here for a really great opportunity and he came with him and he was a shop owner there.
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: He had been a designer like does beautiful work and he didn't want to set up shop again.
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: You know, I got him and then we just hired a new gal who is amazing, and she came from Seattle, owned her own business 23 years.
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: You know, they're moving back, and so I feel like the location and I feel like that's been something I've already done it's like I will just go wherever you need me to go.
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: I mean, I've done jobs in Smackover and Paragould.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: You know like flown to Paragould every Wednesday for a year and a half.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: You know like just whatever needed to happen to like serve those opportunities as clients and so so I think that's why we have like this great team now.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Give us a sense of the quantity and size of the jobs that you guys are doing.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, ok, yeah, okay, or have done.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: I don't want anyone to think like we're like you know it's.
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think we have 16 projects right now.
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: We might work on eight over a course of a week and some of them are ending, some of them are starting.
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: Our sweet spot is to have like a full build, like we love beginning to end, like we love helping you decide what property to buy.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: We love helping you build a design team.
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: All the way to, like picking the perfect trash can for the powder bath, like the whole thing.
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: You know, because that's the relationship, yeah Right, like you spend that much time with someone, like you go fly to meet an architect in Austin, you go on shopping trips with clients you, you know, are there to celebrate birthdays, like that.
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: That's how you build those relationships and you become like a part of their circle you know so most interior designers.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: they either sell their time or they sell furniture.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: I mean or some combination of both Do you do both, do you?
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, yeah, the industry.
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: Like I have a business coach, which is a whole other great story out of Denver, colorado.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: Is this the one I read about who told you to double your rates and you did it?
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: Yes, oh, that's a good story too.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good one.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: I'd like to hear that, because I think that is a problem for so many small businesses.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: They think being cheap and being busy is the way to get ahead, whereas it's not.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: It's better to be expensive and do a good job when you work.
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: I don't want to remember that Good word.
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: It just is, it's a better strategy for a small business, yeah.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: Better service, better quality, but a higher price?
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because you can't compete just as the cheapest.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: It's a race to the bottom.
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so true, so true.
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: That's a good reminder, good reminder.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: So this business coach of yours, she's the one that said you need to raise your rates because you're busy but you're not making enough.
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: She did yeah, yeah, you want me to tell that story yeah, yeah Tell us.
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: So I was it started with.
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: I would say that it was probably one of the biggest pivotal points in my business and it was nine years ago and my husband's entrepreneurial as well.
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: So, like we said, we both left one career and we both found our way, and he started a business about the same time I did, and so about 10 years into his business, the rug got pulled out from under him.
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: He lost his dealership, and so what was he selling?
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: He sells microscopes.
• 30:51
  Speaker 5: Okay, yeah, wow, that's pretty cool Pretty cool industry.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: And so that's pretty cool, pretty cool industry, yeah, and so it's a small industry.
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: Micro.
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: Yes, it's.
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: Yes, sorry, they make.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: Yes, he has.
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: I'll let him tell you his tagline on that.
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: But so I realized that like I needed help, like I had done all I knew to do in my business and I felt like there was opportunity.
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: But I didn't know how to get there.
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: And I've been going to High Point Market and always sourcing, you know, because we are so limited here.
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: And so I was like I need to like go to these free classes when they offer them, I should like go get some education.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the education program, right, and it's free, right.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like, go get some education.
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: You're on here, right, and it's free so I went to this panel.
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: They had a panel of designers on the stage and there was like 250 people and they are talking and other people are talking.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: Sorry, this thing just talks randomly, I know.
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: They thought I asked a question or something, which is fine.
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: They just want to be a part, so anyway.
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: So I went to this talk and they had this panel and I've never heard anyone talk like out loud about our industry and the struggles being a business owner in the industry.
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: Like people talk all the time about like you know, you ordered the wrong sofa feller, whatever but like these people were talking about like do we enough?
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: People aren't paying us in time.
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: Like and I'm like they're saying this out loud I mean, who's running this show?
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: Like I need to meet this person and um so gail doby.
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: She's um a business coach.
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: She'd been in the design field, has a finance degree and um, she understands your industry, she gets sure.
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: And she has this goal to make like I don't even know what her number is so many designers in this amount of time.
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: Basically, you know, over $2 million businesses.
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: Like her goal is to make us CEOs.
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: She said you know, this is an industry where so many of us don't know how to run our business.
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: We don't and we don't have the tools, and so that is her goal and so that's really.
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: I was at a.
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: I heard her and I was like I'm just going to sign up for this person blindly and went to her summit in Denver, colorado, and really that is where she has a VIP program where she does this really intensive work on your finances.
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: I took my accountant with me.
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: I went back like three months later and took Kevin and I remember he went to the bathroom.
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: She's like is it okay, we're working on his business instead of yours?
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: I'm like, yeah, they're both our businesses.
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's okay.
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: And so, um, that was like the pivotal point for me, because she really like has this whole program and systems for specifically our industry and she is the one that said raise your rates.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: I'm very skeptical of business coaches.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: But I think if you've got somebody that knows your industry, that's a different matter, because every business is different.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: It can't just be in my mind, at least I.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: You know Zwei Group.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: That's all we do is work with architects and engineers.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: So we did that on a big scale, yeah, and so I totally understand that and I always felt like we understand your business.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: If we didn't know if we didn't understand your business.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: If you were a liquor store or a car dealership or something, I wouldn't know what the heck to look at yeah you know, yeah that wasn't our bag Right.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: You've got to be specialized, so obviously this woman really did help.
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: She did.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: And she convinced you that you could charge more and you wouldn't lose all your clients, right.
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: I'm telling you you will make.
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: First of all, her program was like hiring an employee and I was like I can't do this.
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: But I signed up and she said you're going to make this money back.
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: And she said you need to raise your rates by double and I was like okay.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: Most people would be afraid to do this.
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: There wasn't, like you know, this formula.
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: It was just the information.
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: You know and then a deadline and I was like okay, so like, as I was like how do I do this?
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: Went back to relationships.
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: I was like, okay, I can do this.
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: People that have never hired me, that's easy, this is what we charge.
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: They're either going to hire me or not hire me.
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: But then I've got these people that are lifers.
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: They're like what do I do with them?
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: And I was like, okay, if this was happening to me, I would want some time.
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: So I'm not going to say till the end of your project, because they don't end.
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: So I was like that doesn't work, so I'm going to give them six months.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: Okay, I like that.
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: Okay so.
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: I went and I met with and they were three men that all had their own businesses and I'm like I can do this.
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: And I'm like I can do this.
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: And so I went to one and he was like, okay, you're going to raise by double.
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: And I was like, yeah, he's like okay, you know, we really need to be raising our rates too, so like, don't you start charging on that and I'm like why, Like you do.
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: And then you know, I go to the next guy and he's an attorney and I'm having to tell this attorney.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: He's already charging 600 bucks.
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: You're cheap.
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: What you charge.
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: And then the next guy was an entrepreneur himself and owned all these clinics and said the same thing Like okay, who have you told?
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: Like how are they taking this?
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: I mean it was like it gave everyone permission, you know.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: Well, they wanted to see you be successful too, because you have a relationship they value your work that you're doing.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: It's just, yeah, it's, it's such a pivotal part of this whole thing.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: It's like you know, I think a lot of people like again, you know I teach entrepreneurship to undergrads and a lot of them think again, you know I teach entrepreneurship to undergrads okay, and a lot of them think well, the way you buy stuff in a business is you buy the cheapest, you can get, you beat everybody down.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: And you know, walmart has sort of perpetuated that in a way in northwest arkansas, that sort of thought process yeah, yeah, but it's certainly not applicable to all businesses it's not at all.
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: It's the, the discount shop, you know store.
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: It's its business mission to sell you money.
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: You want better.
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: That works for DIY people.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: That's right, totally works.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: But in business, most of us, we don't buy anything based on what's the cheapest.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: You buy from the people you like.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: You buy from the people that are easy to deal with.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: You buy from the people who always deliver.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: You buy from the people that are easy to deal with.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: You buy from the people who always deliver.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: You buy from the people who help you when you're in a bind and jump in.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know the price is one factor, but it's like way down on the list.
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: And I think a lot of people just don't understand that If you're a quality provider, the price is not usually the sole determinant.
• 37:47
  Speaker 4: It's like are you saving them time?
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: Are you saving them pain?
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: Are you delivering what they want?
• 37:53
  Speaker 4: Do you have an expertise and a knowledge base?
• 37:57
  Speaker 4: It's the value.
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: It's like we're dealing.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: We always dealt with our subcontractors like that and I know these are all the people that you're dealing with.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's like do you want to call, you know, the cheapest electrician right now?
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: You want the guy that yeah, you know you need to put two outlets there in a hurry and that light's got to be replaced by tomorrow.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: That they're going to come over and do that and it's going to be done nicely.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: They clean up all their work when they're done right, they actually turn the fuse box back on, that flip the breaker so it works when you plug something into it and they put the light switch in a place that makes sense so it's not this wall that's turned on that light.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you don't turn it down, turn it on, turn it up right, it's not crooked.
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: The face plates aren't crooked, but I'm just saying so.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: It's like all those other things get so much more important.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: And when you have that relationship, you don't even ask them what it costs.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: You go, just get in there, do it, and they know they can trust you and they like doing business with you better because they don't have to estimate everything.
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: And quote prices all the time, and then it's a symbiotic.
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and don't you think it's true, though, like when I look back?
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: You know, ok, we have 26 years, so that's some, you know history right.
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: Like when you're starting, like my clientele, their expectations were much different than the clientele I have now.
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: And so when I say, like we've grown up with some of our clientele, like before, they just wanted me to use what they had.
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: That was the resource.
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: They didn't care if I go to market and like buy into some line and like now can sell them something that will last them 20 years.
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: Like the goal was to use what they had and make it look different, make it look good right, they didn't have the budget right and now they're more successful, and so as you grow right.
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: So like as these younger people are growing in in these businesses, trying these businesses, there are these levels too.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: So like I love seeing that, because that also has given me permission to take the kind of jobs we take, the level of jobs we take, work with the vendors, like I now feel comfortable saying this job isn't for us, but when you're starting you're hungry Like you're afraid to say that, right?
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: I mean, I'm still afraid to say it sometimes.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, sure.
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: I love saying yes, man, I know it's so great.
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: I sure don't like with people that start with no, you don't want to give up any revenue dollar ever.
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: No, dude, I can't.
• 40:26
  Speaker 4: It's so hard.
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: That, okay, it's so true.
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: But, um, yeah, so like give us a sense.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: What's the mix of your projects for single family residential.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: Then you do some bigger stuff.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: I know you've worked for institutional type clients and, and, um, also a commercial.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what's the breakdown?
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: Our commercial is pretty small, like our commercial tends to be.
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: Like someone is starting a restaurant, you know that's not franchised and we we help them with the aesthetics of the dining space.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: That's a big deal.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: It's fun.
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: Those fun those have been fun.
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: Um, and a lot of more corporate type offices, you know, because it's a relationship.
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: Again it goes back to like hey, you've done our house, you know us, we could do this project, um, so I love those.
• 41:19
  Speaker 3: I love doing like people's offices and their suites, like I love that part um.
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: And then really our sweet spot are those full builds, so like if we can have one of those that are a three-year project, a five-year project, then they overlap.
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: So what are these?
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: Like $3 million houses, $5 million projects, like what kind of range are we talking?
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: about yeah, yeah, we're talking about anywhere from like I mean typical so our small projects.
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: We would say like maybe they are building like million dollar homes, you know, maybe they're doing a million dollar remodel, maybe two, um, and then our big houses, that last you know, over the course of time is like four to 10.
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: Okay, so like bigger projects.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: That's a lot.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: In Arkansas it's a lot.
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: This is not Southern California.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you're going beyond.
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't say we go way beyond.
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: We have a house right now in Florida.
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: That's a really neat project and, again, a lifer.
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: We just finished a house up at Table Rock Lake.
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: That was amazing, a legacy home.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: Grew up in Missouri, everybody had a place on Table Rock.
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: Yes, it's so good.
• 42:32
  Speaker 3: I love leaving Arkansas now I'm like, oh, this is a fun little spot and I found these great restaurants.
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: I love going and exploring a new place and meeting new people.
• 42:44
  Speaker 4: So there's people that have $10 million homes?
• 42:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, there are, yeah, wow meeting new people.
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: So there's people that have $10 million homes.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there are.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, wow, believe me, when you get done with that thing, you're building over there in Cape Spring you'll have $10 million in the site work, I think, oh yeah, Eric's got this property that he's building in the compound.
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: I love it when people say we're building this house.
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: And then they're like how do we build a compound?
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: I was like, you didn't build a house, you developed property.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, this is a development project, for sure, if you put on a pond, a stone wall, a water feature.
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: that's the level we're talking about.
• 43:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he's talking about having three houses plus a house plus a commercial building.
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: Well, pretty little tiny home thing for the daughters Then you can just break it down Say you know, I built an X amount dollar home and then I built, like you know, a $100,000 home and a $50,000 home.
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's how you can break it out.
• 43:41
  Speaker 4: So we have a few minutes left, Mark.
• 43:42
  Speaker 4: Okay, just wanted to make sure that like you know like a question, like about you know on that relationship thing, so can you give, do you mind to give?
• 43:54
  Speaker 4: Like how you go about, like, is there a like?
• 43:59
  Speaker 4: I know you probably don't have it.
• 44:00
  Speaker 4: You know, completely strategized and timetabled out.
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: But like how would you tell somebody or coach somebody to build a relationship with a client to where they become, become a lifer, like I mean?
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: yeah is this like, so you have a lifer not questioning price all the time, exactly, yeah, so say mark gives you calls.
• 44:20
  Speaker 4: hey, becky, I heard I got a referral from somebody that said you're a great designer.
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: I got this project going on.
• 44:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you're like okay, let's.
• 44:29
  Speaker 4: And then you're starting that relationship, that moment.
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what do you?
• 44:32
  Speaker 4: do yeah.
• 44:33
  Speaker 4: What's the first thing you do?
• 44:34
  Speaker 4: Good question.
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: So I'm thinking of these people that haven't been referrals, that knew other people well, you know.
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: So like they're a fresh referral, like they're not coming from a lifer and they've been around with me and now I know them as well I drew some history.
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: So, like the newbies, the cold the cold, cold, yeah, yeah.
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: So I'm gonna use the couple that we just did table rock for and because they're relatively new, they're like the last five years clients.
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: So when they called again like from the audio visual guy, like okay so that's kind of a distant link.
• 45:06
  Speaker 3: They bought a house that we had remodeled for Coach Bielema.
• 45:09
  Speaker 3: So they bought the Bielema's house and they loved what we had done.
• 45:13
  Speaker 3: I mean, when they walked in they were like who painted that brick wall blue?
• 45:16
  Speaker 3: Because, like we want to know that person.
• 45:21
  Speaker 4: And so.
• 45:21
  Speaker 3: I was like, okay, yeah, that's me.
• 45:23
  Speaker 3: And so I remember she told me this recently and embarrassed me.
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: But she said when I called you, I was so nervous because I was like, oh my gosh, I've never called a signer.
• 45:34
  Speaker 3: I'm calling a signer and she, like knows all this stuff I don't know.
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: And she's like, will you work with me?
• 45:40
  Speaker 3: And I said you know what?
• 45:41
  Speaker 3: Let's, let's meet.
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: I said I'd love to just sit down and get to know you, because you are going to want to want to work with me and I'm going to want to work with you, right?
• 45:52
  Speaker 3: And she said later she goes.
• 45:53
  Speaker 3: I was so worried when I have the phone.
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: What if she doesn't want to work with me?
• 45:56
  Speaker 3: What if she doesn't like me?
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: That's a great way to go.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: Baby, you got this one.
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: That's where you want them Create the mystique.
• 46:11
  Speaker 3: Maybe I'll work for you, but maybe yeah.
• 46:12
  Speaker 3: So that process, there's not a formula, you know that's what's hard, but like that process but I think well, the formula is that is like spending that time, like like saying sure we're not having a meeting for me to show you our program right right this meeting is like tell me about your life.
• 46:27
  Speaker 3: Yes, like being engaged, that's it.
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: I want to know where you're not trying to sell them anything.
• 46:32
  Speaker 3: Who are your people?
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: yes, you're asking them questions.
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: That's what I was hoping it's sam.
• 46:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, because like, I've had this like and there's a community aspect around here too, right that?
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: you're like.
• 46:43
  Speaker 4: I mean it's and it might be a little slow, but people can't you can't fast track that stuff like you can't go in and sell.
• 46:50
  Speaker 4: No, you know, even if they're wanting something from you like you, have to start understanding who that person is and remember it helped me, that sales made me sweat, you know.
• 47:00
  Speaker 3: so like, yeah, I don't, that's not my nature.
• 47:03
  Speaker 3: I am selling all the time, but I'm coming at it a different way and I don't even know it's sales, but it is that and it took me like their first sign up was just the living room.
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: Okay, that's a good point.
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: That was a $75,000 job.
• 47:21
  Speaker 3: Right when I say, hey, a living room this size is going to be 75,000.
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: And they said yes, and then, in the whole course of that, she keeps saying I'm never going to let you in my bedroom, it's a private space.
• 47:34
  Speaker 3: I'm never going to let you in the bedroom.
• 47:35
  Speaker 3: I was like absolutely, I get it Well.
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: As soon as we got five rooms done, she's like you have got to do it Well you demonstrated, you demonstrated, and now she's got the confidence to go ahead and so, yeah, that's a big part of it and then they're looking, literally.
• 47:54
  Speaker 3: they're looking for projects we can help them with, because they miss us.
• 47:57
  Speaker 4: I'm telling you, that's it.
• 47:58
  Speaker 4: Like.
• 47:59
  Speaker 4: I mean folks, like the general person, all of us, even in this room and everybody that's listening, we get burned.
• 48:06
  Speaker 4: We hear bad stories.
• 48:08
  Speaker 4: We have fear.
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 48:09
  Speaker 4: Fear is sitting there and it's keeping me.
• 48:11
  Speaker 4: I got these walls all around me, yeah, and, and I'm not going to let you just bust them all down, yeah, but what you did with that living room, that is, you came in, you developed a trust.
• 48:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, like I like that, okay, and they're like, hey, what about this?
• 48:25
  Speaker 4: And then they eventually let you in the bedroom.
• 48:27
  Speaker 4: It's like the most.
• 48:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's intimate.
• 48:30
  Speaker 4: That's intimate, yeah, but over time you broke down those walls.
• 48:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and what you said is so good, like it is the opposite of fear is love.
• 48:38
  Speaker 3: And so, like, if you just like, love people where they are and you recognize that, I had a lady that said my husband's going to love you, but I'm scared to death that we're hiring you, and I was like he's great, he loves design, he's in.
• 48:52
  Speaker 3: I need to win her Like I need to win her trust.
• 48:55
  Speaker 3: She needs to know that I care about value because that mattered to her.
• 48:59
  Speaker 3: So like I've been over backwards for the things that matter to her.
• 49:04
  Speaker 3: So it is about like listening, when are they, where are we together, you know?
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: you know, if you, it's been proved that if you just ask people a lot of questions about themselves when you meet them, then you may talk very little, but when they leave you they will say, oh that Becky's wonderful, I really liked her.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because you ask a lot.
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: If you get together with somebody and all they do is talk about themselves and they never ask you anything about yourself, yeah, you think.
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they're an asshole.
• 49:33
  Speaker 4: I mean I'm sorry.
• 49:34
  Speaker 4: No, that's true, Because I feel like every time we do this podcast, I feel like Mark talks the entire time.
• 49:44
  Speaker 5: Come on, eric, I'm just kidding.
• 49:49
  Speaker 4: Poor Mark, I'm just kidding.
• 49:49
  Speaker 4: I'm kidding.
• 49:50
  Speaker 4: We always ask a question at the end who did you like more as a host here today?
• 49:52
  Speaker 4: Oh good, because we're trying to determine should we split off and do separate shows?
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: Eric is more likable.
• 50:01
  Speaker 4: I know that no way, man, I accept that there's a great balance going on here.
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: You need a round table though.
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: Can I just suggest a round table?
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: We've got other sets.
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: I have my back to the camera.
• 50:14
  Speaker 3: He's like.
• 50:14
  Speaker 3: You know, we need a round table.
• 50:16
  Speaker 3: I need to bring it in.
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: We have multiple sets here.
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: Okay, we've got the Johnny Carson set.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: We've got the what is it?
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: The Charlie Rose interview set here.
• 50:32
  Speaker 4: What's the Charlie Rose?
• 50:33
  Speaker 4: You're talking about the little triad.
• 50:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, the chairs, the chairs, yeah, oh yeah yeah, we've got a variety of sets here.
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I like it.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: This is podcast videos.
• 50:45
  Speaker 3: This is a real company.
• 50:45
  Speaker 3: This is good guys.
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, hey, it's really been fun talking.
• 50:50
  Speaker 3: we could talk all day, I'm sure.
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: I know we so good, so I'm so glad you came thank you.
• 50:55
  Speaker 3: Thank you for having me too, like I mean, that meant a lot.
• 50:58
  Speaker 3: I love meeting new people yeah, that's fantastic we love meeting you.
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: How do people get a hold of you if they want?
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's hard like hey maybe you will get a hold of me if you will decide to talk to me right, don't know, no, I he's like I might.
• 51:18
  Speaker 3: This is a whole other podcast like how have?
• 51:20
  Speaker 3: I been in business without social media because I have no social media.
• 51:24
  Speaker 3: I'm so sorry, sorry, but I do have a website.
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: OK, hit us with that place.
• 51:30
  Speaker 3: It's wwwtablesettersinccom and you can just reach out there.
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: Awesome.
• 51:39
  Speaker 4: And maybe, maybe, becky, maybe she could help you.
• 51:44
  Speaker 4: Maybe she'll talk to you?
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: We don't know.
• 51:46
  Speaker 3: I'll always talk.
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: Well, we'll get to know each other first, we'll decide whether this is going to work or not, because we're really busy over here and we're not cheap.
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to tell you right now.
• 52:00
  Speaker 3: Thank you, I'm going to start.
• 52:01
  Speaker 3: Mark said we are not cheap.
• 52:04
  Speaker 4: Put that on a quote on the top of the website Before you call recognize.
• 52:08
  Speaker 4: Mark Zweig said we're not cheap.
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: We don't want to be cheap.
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: We don't want to be cheap.
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: No, Becky, it's great and we're glad you're here in Northwest Arkansas and I know you've worked on so many amazing projects.
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: Obviously you've really got yourself in the right network.
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: Thank, you.
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: To network.
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: Thank you To get the quality of stuff that you're doing.
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's awesome.
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: So thanks so much, and until then next week.
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: That is.
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: This has been another episode of Big Talk About Small Business.
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: If you'd like to be on the show or, better yet, if you want to give us some money to be a sponsor of the show, please reach out to us at wwwbigtalkaboutsmallbusinesscom and we'd love to talk with you.
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: We know that.
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: Let's think about it.
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: Okay, we'll think about it.
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: Okay, we'll think about talking with you.
• 53:03
  Speaker 4: We'll watch the sponsorships pour in now more you know what I'm saying.
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, thanks everybody.
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: Thanks Eric, and thanks so much, Becky.
• 53:11
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 53:18
  Speaker 5: Thanks for tuning into this episode of Big Talk about Small Business.
• 53:21
  Speaker 5: If you have any questions or ideas for upcoming shows, be sure to head over to our website, wwwbigtalkaboutsmallbusinesscom and click on the ask the host button for the chance to have your questions answered on the show.
• 53:35
  Speaker 5: Stay connected with us on LinkedIn at Big Talk About Small Business and be sure to head over to our website to read articles, browse episodes and ask questions about upcoming shows.