Latest / Really Renée / Ep. 10 - What I'd Tell Myself at $120K
Transcript
- Sam Struck: All right, welcome back. It's really Renee. I'm your host, Samantha Strach from Studio Renee. And today we're going to be talking about the things I wish I had heard when I was at the $120,000 mark that would have helped me reach $1.2 million sooner. We're dreamers. Don't care what other people say. We're dreamers. So today I was just spending time reflecting on. That zone between the 120 to 1.2 million dollar mark. And it was really stressful. I mean, it's stressful to be. I mean, the joke in the office has been like, it's stressful when you don't have enough projects because you're stressed about your overhead, you're stressed about where the projects are going to come from. But then you're also stressed when you're managing a million-dollar business and you're like, ⁓ shit, like what do I do now? Am I doing this right? ⁓ there's a lot of imposter syndrome. There's a lot of like self-work that you have to do to really look in the mirror and figure out how you're gonna reach sustainability when you're in that zone. So it was just like a really stressful season. I went from just myself to essentially a team of five in a very, very short amount of time. And to be clear, the whole reason why I started my business was because Like I literally know that I would make a terrible employee. I do not like being told what to do. I don't like having to conform to rigid structures. ⁓ I have a lot of self-awareness around just like knowing that I am not meant to be like an ant in an ant colony. And so I started my business, but then to have never had any exposure. To a design studio or a design firm that had employees, to then being a business owner that had employees was just like exceptionally tricky and hard and stressful. ⁓ so if you're in that zone, like I feel you, I'm there with you, I know exactly what that feels like. But ⁓ the first thing that I would would have wished that I would have told myself or that I wish somebody would have told me is. To start charging more sooner. And the premise of this comes from the idea that we charge based on our skill and our experience. And then we kind of like grow that over time as we get more professional and whatnot. I've I agree with that in some senses, but I also, when I moved to Hood River and I started my firm. I actually knew what all of our competitors' rates were. And to be super direct, I thought I was better already. I thought my skills were better. I thought my expertise was better. I thought my professionalism was better. And that our deliverables were more elevated. In which case I did not want to price myself under my competitors in an emerging market because I think it would undervalue. the skills that I know I'm bringing to this area. So I remember like setting my rates and setting them higher than my competitors and being new. And it was actually my former mother in law that was like, Are you sure you want to do that? Are you sure that you like think that that's a good idea? I think you should like price it lower. And I was like, nope. I'm gonna do it this way. This is what feels right to me. And I would rather have less clients up front and have to really work for the right client than to sacrifice my delivery and and sell something that's worth more for a lesser amount. That's not everyone's approach, and I get it. ⁓ and I and you know, each of you have to find what works best for you, but I think. Knowing your worth confidently ⁓ is a huge part of how to price yourself appropriately. ⁓ and then even when I did that, right? I charged, you know, maybe 125 an hour, something like that. And when I did that, I still like under undersold the amount of hours it would take for me to do something because I was new. And so there's all these different ways that you can get into pricing strategies and whatnot. And we can talk about ⁓ that on a whole episode, but ⁓ I really just wish that somebody would have been like charge your worth. ⁓ and to a degree I did, but I think the package size and volume should have gone up earlier than I did. And for example, ⁓ you know, I remember making my first project, like pretty small kitchen remodel here in the gorge. And my fee was like $3,000 for design work and material selections. And then a year later, I set a goal at that season to charge a flat rate of or like set a proposal out that was worth $10,000. And I was like, worked towards that goal, built up the business, did the, you know, got a better website, did all the things that you kind of feel like you need to do in order to charge more. And then that next year, I like sent out my first ten thousand dollar proposal and I was like, ⁓ shit, like I am doing it. Like this is great. Again, solo designer, that feels like a lot. So ⁓ you know, it was it was like a big, big moment. And then the following year, I set a goal to get new construction projects and to be able to charge six figures as a fee on those. And I remember the first time I sat on a client proposal meeting and we were charging, we at that time we calculated new construction at 7%. and so that was on two projects that year that equated to $160,000 in design fees. And I remember sitting in that proposal and I knew that that was a fair amount for the amount of work I was gonna be doing. I also did a lot of market research. I knew that. Interior designers nationwide typically charge 10% or 12%, depending on where you are and level of expertise. And I knew that what we were delivering was an exceptional service. And so, and I knew that nobody in our area did it the same way we did. So I remember sitting in that meeting and go and like thinking, like, ⁓ my gosh, I just went from, you know, a ten thousand dollar proposal. Average in the previous year to now I'm sending out two six figure proposals in the same month. And the first meeting I did that, I like sweated and was just like, okay, okay, I can do this. I know, I know that this is what we're worth. But also, like, I have never had to sell six figures before to one person. And both of those proposals went out the same month, both of those meetings went out the same month. Both clients like completely signed that same month. They never questioned it. And then I was like, ⁓ damn, maybe I should have charged more. But both of them saw the value. And part of the sell wasn't that I had this like exceptional portfolio or that I like had an exceptional expertise level. It was that I wanted to be of service in a community where they were both building. out of area and we knew that they needed a liaison, somebody that had boots on the ground that could advocate for them and that they could feel like was going to carry their project for them on a daily basis. And so ⁓ the sell wasn't the portfolio at all. It was a hundred percent knowing the market, the client conditions, what they needed to feel at peace, and then selling the package based on that. So ⁓ yeah, I think just like Charge your worth. Really spend the time to do that and feel confident in what you're doing. So that would have been the first thing that would have been super helpful to hear. Secondarily to that, it would have been to implement procurement earlier. So I did design for many years in our community with no procurement, where I'm essentially relying on vendors or third party relationships to see the design through. So other cabinet companies. Other the general contractor supplying the flooring, the general contractor supplying the lighting, things like that. Number one, ⁓ we could have obviously increased our profit margins earlier on if I would have done it. But I think it took realizing like in college, I think I mentioned this on another episode. In college, I was told you don't make money from an hourly or service based side and also make money on furnishing, furnishings and soft goods and ⁓ materials. So I had to reconcile like why not? Because that was industry standard at the time. And so there was a part of me that like literally felt bad. So I think the question, it's like less about like, yes, I should have started procurement. It would have helped me earlier. But under that is like ask the why not. Why can't you do something? Why can't you do it that way? be willing to like challenge the status quo. I think that's what's got us from, you know, 120 to 1.2 million in three years. We did things differently. We still are doing things differently. And I think that's part of the reason why people hire us, even though we don't have like an exceptional portfolio. I'm not like ranked all over arc digest. I think our projects are lovely and beautiful, and I think we do an exceptional service. But I'm not gonna say I'm like as cool as Amber Lewis or Jake Arnold. Like They are incredible and phenomenal, but that's also not our market here. So ⁓ I think it's like navigating what you want to challenge and how you want your business to be and knowing that it's okay to do that. ⁓ and then the third one I think is challenging. Like I again, I I think this is one that I could like literally probably do an entire episode on. And it's that you need to hire well before you think you need to. And hiring is so stressful. Hiring people is stressful, adding overhead is stressful. ⁓ and it's clunky. And it's like reveals all of the things inside of you as a person that ⁓ both make you great, but also make you probably challenging as a leader and then also make it challenging to lead. So ⁓ I think that, you know, I I definitely should have hired earlier. And then when it comes to hiring, I think that you need to understand that. You have to like really let people go if you need to. I'm such a heart-led person. ⁓ it's gotten me in trouble in hiring. And it's led to people feeling hurt. It's led to people on the team feeling hurt, even though I led with the best of intentions. I also fumbled through that process. And so I think knowing that you need to hire quick. And then also knowing that you need to fire or let go of people even quicker is important. ⁓ so the the the question is like, how do you know when you're ready to hire? How do you know that you need to? And I would say like you have to be able to forecast in your business, right? You have to be able to like feel confident that you have enough in the pipeline that you can take on somebody. Unless you're just like totally ballsy and risky in the in The way that you're just like, no, I've got enough work right now, in which case I can hire somebody. ⁓ I steward and carry my team from a perspective of like this person is giving their life to this business. And I want to make sure that I like have them covered for a good amount of time and that we can weather a storm if we need to. So my very first hire number one was a 1099 because you have more flexibility. It's not a commitment and you don't have to offer as as much benefits, things like that. It's less complicated in terms of payroll. So if you want to like test the waters in it, I think a 1099 or independent contractor relationship is great. You have to let them be ⁓ autonomous from you. You cannot control them. You cannot tell them when to come into work. Nothing like that. So if you are controlling, you you just can't 1099. Don't do that because They will likely come back at you and be like, you need to pay all my taxes because I worked as an employee. And so ⁓ don't put yourself in that much risk. if you're good at like testing the waters and releasing control, then I would say do that for sure. Hey, so if you're finding this content helpful or informative. I would so appreciate if you could consider subscribing to us and leaving a comment or a review just so that we can reach more people, reach more designers, and help elevate the design community. Thanks for tuning in. When it comes to actual W-2 employment, ⁓ my general rule of thumb was that I had to have three months, three to six months of that person's salary and overhead expense put into a slush fund. And then ⁓ to do that, I worked really hard. For X amount of months before that to make that person's salary on my team, so that I could bring them on confidently and know that the work was still there. So I don't, I I mean that that kind of sounds like I would grind for like several months, which I did. ⁓ but that's what felt right to me because I just wanted to make sure that I could genuinely support. the overhead ⁓ for a duration of time that felt good. so three to six months of the overhead expenses. If you don't know what the overhead expenses are going to be, you need to hire a bookkeeper. Like do that step one. Ask them about payroll expenses. How much would come from your company? How much comes from the employee? ⁓ things like that. ⁓ and then You know, you really need to preemptively think about when you think you're gonna reach your drowning point and hire before that. Because if you're gonna hire in the midst of the drowning, it's very stressful to onboard that employee. It's a lot of ⁓ trial by fire. They it you essentially put them in a position of drinking from a fire hose because you have led to a stress point in your business. And it doesn't set the precedent up front that you want them to be able to like be relaxed in your business. And so, if the goal is that you care about their emotional wellness, which obviously you should, then you need to hire before you're like at your break point so that they don't feel like they're in rescue mode for you. Cause that's just a really toxic situation. I've done it, it's toxic. ⁓ So right now we went through I mean just like as a history, we had five employees that are like peak. And then we had an economic downturn after the reelection of Trump. And I'm not gonna get political in this discussion. However, I will say there's always a dip in the market anytime there's an election cycle because people are hesitant about how it's gonna, you know, change interest rates, mortgage rates, et cetera. This particular election cycle, because immediately we switched into tariff conversations, it stalled the market like tremendously and for a longer period of time than typical. So ⁓ we are situated in a usually very insulated pocket of abundance and affluence here as a retiree and kind of high tech area community. And this was probably the first time in 10 years that I've seen the market actually like. completely stall stop. And so we had plumbers coming in asking if we had work, which is shocking. and so we really had to weather, which meant I laid off my team. And so I went down to just being solo. And then I took a year to just like pause, reset, figure out what didn't work because after I laid off the team I'd realized like, ⁓ actually this feels way less stressful and I feel good. ⁓ so I had to take time to really think about like, wait, why, why does this feel good? What was what was happening under the surface that I didn't acknowledge, didn't address, didn't deal with, so that when I went back into a season of hiring, I would have clarity over what I needed to do, how I needed to operate, and it would be less stressful, which is the case. So I hired back One person that lasted for a few months and then it just wasn't a good fit. And so ⁓ had that person transition out and then hired Sarop, who's on our team right now. And I honestly can't say enough incredible things about her. She is like my right-hand woman. We finish each other's sentences. I think it's the first time in the history of emplo employing people that I genuinely feel like, ⁓ we get each other, and this is so easy. And so we just have a more open chain of communication. There's like no intimidation between her and I. She's very comfortable being direct. I'm very comfortable being direct back to her. And it just like the dynamic is really super healthy. we're at the point where we need to hire another person again. And that person's role would be so Sarop is interior designer, senior interior designer. And then we need to hire an office and procurement manager. So we're at the point where it's just like needing to hire a person again. I have three months worth of that person's salary set aside. we know what the overhead is going to be of that employee. We're looking at the pipeline of projects that we have on the table and the leads that are on the table. And we're at the point where it's like, okay, if these leads sign, it's gonna be really stressful for Sorop and I. So we need to hire now because preemptively, this person needs enough time to get trained in their position to be able to feel good when we're drinking from a fire hose. So I just really recommend that you like get through that hurdle of hiring and push through it, do it. And if it's not a good fit, it's okay. Let them go, move on. It's okay. It does not mean you don't love people, it does not mean that you don't care for people. But it's also a hundred percent okay to acknowledge when somebody's not a good fit for you, not a good fit culturally, as in like the culture of your office. ⁓ not a good care character fit, not a good skills fit. ⁓ and I can tell you, I have hired for Character and I've hired for skills. And I can always come back to you cannot teach somebody to embrace your culture if their character is not aligned with it. you can teach people skills. Skills nowadays are easy. Anyone can learn anything off of YouTube, off of Claude, any of that. The the world is changing in terms of the technical skills and what's required. ⁓ but you cannot teach somebody The idea of professionalism and how you want your office to run. ⁓ I've had people on the team before that did not understand that, you know, you can't leave the trash by the front door because we have six figure design clients that stop by randomly and it doesn't look good to have trash by the floor or by the front door. So, ⁓ you know, there's there's just like little things that you c you just can't teach people these things. And so ⁓ if they're not a good fit for that, then it's not gonna work well in the long run and it just becomes really stressful. And I wish that I would have had more skills and I wish I would have had more coaching on how to hire, what to do, how to get over the angst of that, etc. So, you know, I think ⁓ I was just listening to a podcast episode On Boss Babe with Natalie Ellis and Jenna Wright. for those of you that don't know, I'm in Natalie Ellis' boardroom mastermind. Jenna Wright is also participating in it. So she's alongside me in there. And Jenna has like a really incredible story. And one of the things she said is like business ownership exposes all the things about you that are like trauma and hard things ⁓ that you don't think you're gonna have to address in business. And I have a coach in that mastermind. Her name's Valerie. I'm pretty sure she's changed my life. All that to say, ⁓ her and I have just gone through so much emotional work in the last several weeks around this idea of like what's being exposed, what I'm learning, what what I'm needing to do to be able to sit in this chair and do what I feel is my purpose. ⁓ and that. Is like hard. So when you're in that messy middle of business growth, especially as a woman, I think, ⁓ you have to put yourself in rooms that feel inspiring. You need to put yourself in therapy, business development, growth, ⁓ mindset groups, things like that. Because You will feel like a ship that's like lost its rudder at times if you don't have the fundamental business skills. And I want to be clear about something. I have a business minor. I went to school for interior design. I went to school for merchandising management. And I also have a business minor. I did not know shit about how to run a business. And I did not have leadership development. I did not have good modeled experience. of how to be a designer. And my only experience post-college was literally two almost two years in Singapore working at a firm where my boss was extremely abusive to his wife in front of us, ⁓ doing feng shui and design that like did not align with my my background or anything that I knew I was going to carry into my experience in America. And with a design system that just like was completely different and a construction system that was completely different. Everything there was like, how quickly can we build this and how cheap can we build it? ⁓ because everything's kind of like temporary, if that makes sense. so That was my that was my first experience. And then my second experience after moving back from Singapore was working for a designer in Portland who works for the top, you know, 1% of Portland. She's literally only found by word of mouth. She doesn't have a website. ⁓ she was an OSU grad, so ⁓ my former college professor ⁓ connected me with her because she thought we'd be a good fit to work together. And I could see why we're both feisty. But she was wildly unhealthy as a human being. And that job was so, so stressful. But because she was a solo designer, I was able to help her with everything in the back end. So I helped her with invoicing. I helped her with ⁓ tracking her hours, understanding time billing systems. ⁓ I went to the field. I understand and I was taught about how to like. Field measure, ⁓ construction integration, all of that stuff came from that job in particular. ⁓ but she was wickedly manipulative and emotionally abusive. And ⁓ so when I left, I was, you know, I w I mentioned to her, like, I'm gonna move to Hood River. Me and my former husband wanna go there and like Start a life in that area and community. And she was like, ⁓ she laughed at me. And then she was like, good luck. You're just gonna end up pregnant and do nothing with your life. And so ⁓ that just gives you like a little window into maybe who she is as a person. But all that to say, I am super grateful for that period of life because it did give a window into like how a small business functions. But I had no other experience except for like very toxic situations. and some college prep. So I would say generally the gap in knowledge of how to lead a team, how to do that fairly, honestly, directly, in a way that like protects me, the end protects them, creates healthy boundaries, things like that. ⁓ yeah, it was tough. So I I mean I was all I consider myself all so self-taught in that regard. ⁓ so Get resources for sure. Ask. Ask for help. This industry is not one where people talk about these things openly. Everyone's highly competitive. Everyone's pretty secretive. And I'm not really sure why. So ⁓ my hope is that like we can continue to create dialogue here, create safe space here, create a place where everyone can just talk about the shit they're going through and how they did it and what we can do to like elevate the design community in general. So there's that. ⁓ and the other thing that I feel like I just would have loved to have been taught is that, and it's kind of on the heels, same vein as like get therapy, get help, all of those things, is you really when you're growing, you really, really need to self evalu self evaluate why you're hiring. I hired my first employees for two reasons. Number one being because I needed help, I had too much work. And then number two, because I liked them and I wanted to be friends. And that dynamic is super toxic. So if you are ⁓ I say this with like so much love and compassion, because As we go on this journey, you'll hear more and more about my story. But if you don't have a good, balanced home life, it will be exceptionally hard for you to hire and lead well because ⁓ you will look to compensate your lack of healthy relationships, love, affirmation, all of those things that should be in your personal sphere. ⁓ you'll look to fulfill that within your team. And that dynamic is stressful. It's unfair to them. It creates unhealthy boundaries and it just doesn't go well. So I wish ⁓ somebody or I would have heard or been exposed to somebody saying, like, you have to deal with your shit at home before you can get to this level. And I think if I would have prioritized that, ⁓ I probably would have gotten divorced sooner, which is sassy to say. But also, I think I would have avoided hurting ⁓ people on the team because if you hire people and they feel like you're your friends, then when you have to hold them accountable from a work perspective or like from like a hey, ⁓ this thing that you're doing isn't working, we need to fix it. It's very difficult to do that. So I just don't recommend. friendship can come later, but you have to be willing to have those direct conversations and hold people accountable still. So I would say all in all, those are like the th the three four-ish, three slash four, ⁓ three and a half things that I wish I would have been taught and that I would have had exposure to. ⁓ I had a lot. I did design camp. I, you know, I I did try to find resources in this sphere and vein. And a lot of them are super great. But I think that there's like a gap in the acknowledgement of the emotional side of business growth and how to do that, the stress, the angst. ⁓ I literally was standing in front of the mirror the other morning and I was like, whoa shit. I feel peace. And I can't really say for much of my life that I have felt that. And so ⁓ the purpose of this podcast, the perk. Purpose of this venture is to like hopefully share all the things and share anything that helps like bring peace to you because it's important. And I think that you can do it. You can run a seven-figure design business and also have peace. And so ⁓ if you're here today and you felt like this was helpful and it resonates with you, I just want to say thank you. Thanks for tuning in. ⁓ please like, share, subscribe, go check us out on all the socials. And, you know, don't forget about the free resources that we're adding in to the podcast, whether it's the procurement calculator, if I can talk today, ⁓ or some of the other ones that are like coming down the pipeline. So ⁓ yeah. Just wanna say thanks. Honestly, it's such a gift to be here and get to talk about these things. So, thanks. We're dreamers, don't care what other people say, we live it like this could be a final day. We're dreamers.