Transcript
Michelle Lynne
Hello, hello, hello, everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. I am excited to introduce to you HouseMill Design. HouseMill Design is led by Lauren Ramirez. She happens to be an incredibly talented designer and also led by Jonathan Ramirez, that is Lauren's husband and new business partner. Lauren comes from a design family. Her father was a career architect and her mother is also a creative at heart. So you could pretty much say that Lauren has design in her blood. She started her business in 2016 while serving as a field editor for Better Homes and Garden and HGTV Magazine. Now, initially, the business was called Lauren Ramirez Interiors. But as the team grew, and her husband came on board, they rebranded to HouseMill Design. They've got a small stable of five, soon to be seven designers, and they serve their clients in Austin, Texas, and the surrounding Hill Country. Now, you can say that Jonathan's not the design eye for the company, but he's definitely the creative type as well. He left his 10-year career in the Austin tech scene to help build HouseMill Design with Lauren. And, Jonathan, if I'm not mistaken, your mom was a designer too, right?
Jonathan Ramirez
She is. That's right. So I grew up a little bit in the background also.
Michelle Lynne
Amazing. Well, I'm so glad you guys are both here.
Lauren Ramirez
Thank you.
Jonathan Ramirez
We're glad to be here.
Michelle Lynne
Oh, my gosh, I really appreciate your time. So how did you get started in this business? Because Lauren, if you were in magazines, now, granted, you were a bit on the peripheral. But how did you just jump right into design?
Lauren Ramirez
Well, I obviously grew up around it watching my dad for years, he did architecture and interior design. And when I was in junior high in high school, he had a design-build furnish firm. And so I had seen the process for a few projects. And then, but I didn't study it in college. And I did not think that I was headed towards a career in interior design. But we moved overseas after we got married, and lived in East Africa for almost three years. And we had to develop a home that was suitable for our family of two, that became three, during that time period. And so we had very limited resources, but it was definitely my first, like, foray into, oh my gosh, this is really important. We need a home that functions well and provides a lot of comfort because we were so far from home. And so that was my first like true design project where we renovated this tiny cinderblock house and made it bigger and made it more functional for us. And then, and I cared a lot, I was surprised at how much I cared. I cared so much about the paint colors on the walls and like finding fabrics that we could make cushions out of. And I mean, we are talking like off the grid. So they're all very rustic. But that was my first project. And then when we were done with that stint in Africa, we came home and I really wanted to be around the home design industry. But I had no confidence because I didn't have an education in it. And so that's kind of how I started just dabbling with the magazine situation, you know, where I would find homes, in the magazines, and if you're a field editor, and they pick up your locations that you're scouting, then you are invited sometimes to participate in the photo shoots. And so that's how I really got started. And that's just like styling, you know, that's flowers and bowls and like
Michelle Lynne
Staging the photos.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah, exactly.
Michelle Lynne
So what did you, just out of curiosity, what did you study in college?
Lauren Ramirez
Advertising, actually.
Michelle Lynne
Advertising. Okay, so it wasn't even journalism or anything along that line?
Lauren Ramirez
Nope.
Michelle Lynne
Isn't it funny how things just come where you're supposed to be?
Lauren Ramirez
Absolutely, yes. For sure.
Michelle Lynne
I love that. And when you were in Africa, were you so passionate about it as a mom, making it feel like home? Or as a, you know, as a designer, in progress, wanting to just make it pretty?
Jonathan Ramirez
Good question.
Michelle Lynne
Where was that? Where was that coming from?
Lauren Ramirez
That's really a great question. I don't know that it was so much as a mom. We did give birth to our first child during that time period, not in Africa. We came back to Austin to have her and then took her with us back to Africa. But I think more it was, I needed the comfort, like I needed to feel like I had a home. And when we first arrived, we lived in a tent for a month. And then we lived in a mud hut for several months. And so like I really needed a place where I was like, No, I need like, a space where I cook, and I need a place where I can bathe inside. And like, I needed that to survive. And I was like, Okay, this is super important. And I was so limited in my resources, like I painted a mural myself on the wall in our bedroom because I was like, I care a whole bunch, but what I'm looking at, at home, like it really matters. It made a huge difference for me mentally.
Jonathan Ramirez
I felt like I saw her with every new little touch that she put into the house, get a little bit more settled, a little bit more calm. And I think for your listeners that maybe some of them have been to Africa or know someone who has, when Lauren says "off the grid", it's a different Africa than I think what most people imagine. It's truly off the grid, like 18 foot, deep, pit latrine out back, and no electricity until we added solar, and we're catching rainwater and pulling it up from a stream, not even a well. So it was very, very remote Africa on top of a mountain that we lived.
Michelle Lynne
Now that's like a whole different conversation. I would love to hear about like, what took you over there. And like, how long have you guys been married before you went over there? The fact that you're still married is a testimony.
Lauren Ramirez
For sure.
Michelle Lynne
Yeah. That's a lot of learning. So yeah, that's really off the grid. But I think that what you're describing is a lot of what we as designers take for granted that we deliver to our clients. Is that it's that feeling of comfort, it's that feeling of security. It's that feeling of just calmness when you walk into your home. And granted, you know, there's no like lions or elephants outside our door, but in regards to just feeling at peace.
Lauren Ramirez
Yes.
Michelle Lynne
That's interesting. So it comes full circle in that respect. Okay, so I want to talk a little bit about you, and it started as Lauren Ramirez Interiors.
Lauren Ramirez
Uh-huh.
Michelle Lynne
And then you went to HouseMill Design. Like, why did you rebrand? And where did the name come from?
Lauren Ramirez
I'll talk about why we rebranded and you can talk about where the name came from. So originally like, I was doing the photo shoot stuff. And I staged a house that was on a home tour here in Austin. And there was no interior designer on that project. It was like the builder worked with the homeowner. And so when the tour went on, they gave out my name as the interior designer, which was definitely a misnomer. So I started getting phone calls from people that were like, we saw your house on the home tour, and we need help decorating or we want to freshen up our kitchen. And I was kind of like, oh, whoa, this is a shocker. But okay.
Michelle Lynne
Oh, darn.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah. So I had to rush to name the company. And I did what most designers do, where I picked my name, and put interiors at the end. And so that was kind of just a default name. And I didn't know really where it was gonna go. And at that time period, I just was saying yes to these opportunities that were falling in my lap. And, you know, courtesy of the pandemic, we've been growing steadily every year since 2016, but courtesy of the pandemic, it was like, I guess, January of 2021, it was like the phone was ringing off the hook, you know, and I was like,
Michelle Lynne
Especially in Austin.
Lauren Ramirez
Oh, yeah. I mean, Austin is already a boomtown, but it was like, through the roof. And so I realized I was like, there is a ton of demand, I cannot continue to manage this small business, I mean, as so many of your listeners, and you know as well, like, it's just a ton of work to do all the things that a small business requires. And so I knew that I needed operational help. And so I basically came up with a job description of everything that I was doing, and then took the parts that I felt like I still needed to be doing and put them on one side of the list and put the parts that I thought someone else could help me with and put them on the other side.
Michelle Lynne
Smart, so smart.
Lauren Ramirez
And then I recruited our then 10-year-old daughter to help me make a Google slide presentation.
Jonathan Ramirez
It was very sweet.
Lauren Ramirez
Because I didn't know how.
Michelle Lynne
Oh, that's awesome.
Lauren Ramirez
Because of school, like all being remote, she'd figured it out. And so we made a job description and made a Google slide presentation and pitched it to Jonathan that basically said, I need help, and if you don't want to help in this way, that's totally fine I understand. But I need this help. And so I am offering you this job first and you think about it and one of the things that he said was, if we're going to do this together, like give me some time to think about it, but if we're gonna do it together, it's important to me that your name is not the only name on the company, like I want it to be something that we can build together and he'd been pushing me for a couple of years to rebrand because as you said, you know there's just much pressure that comes with being the person whose name is on the door. And so that was kind of how we got to the point of even deeply discussing the rebrand. And then you can talk about your perspective on that.
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah, I'll throw in there, the agreement when I did decide to take the job offer was, I will work with you, but I will never work for you.
Michelle Lynne
Amen. I understand that completely.
Jonathan Ramirez
And then it just became, and the presentation was very sweet, rough around the edges, but they communicated well. I need help. And I, in my case, I was just, I was ready I think, to make the move. We toyed with it for years. And the way that her business was growing, it just seemed like the right opportunity. And I was working from home consistently at that point. So it just seemed like this is a good time to take the leap and give it a shot and see if this thing works out. But then when we created the name HouseMill, that was really born more out of necessity, for, we bought a little horse farm in Dripping Springs actually, just outside of Austin.
Michelle Lynne
Oh, yeah.
Jonathan Ramirez
And we wanted to build a studio. That's the dream is to build a two-story barn studio, that's part showroom, part Airbnb, part workspace for our team. And we can't have signage on our road. We're right on this popular road called Fitzhugh Road, but we can't have signage or we break the Property Owners Association laws, but we love windmills, and we have a huge one right out front. So we thought if we can't have a sign, we'll just let the windmill itself be the sign.
Michelle Lynne
Oh, genius.
Jonathan Ramirez
So it's right on the road. And that's kind of the origin story of the name HouseMill. Not that exciting, really.
Michelle Lynne
Born out of necessity. No, but that's so cool. And that also makes sense why you talk about your stable is growing from five to seven designers.
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah.
Michelle Lynne
So how many horses do y'all have?
Jonathan Ramirez
Well, zero currently, we're hoping to have
Michelle Lynne
What, have you been busy running a business or something? And raising children?
Lauren Ramirez
We did not buy it because it was a horse farm, we bought it because it was a great piece of property. And we're like, we can change it over time. So currently, the arena has a volleyball net set up in it for our girls to practice volleyball.
Michelle Lynne
That's more practical. That's awesome. So Jonathan, it really resonates with me when you talked about how you wanted to work with Lauren and not for her. Because I think that that is such a key delineation in regards to, you know, just the dynamics of employee, employer, you know, man and wife all the things. How has it been like working together for y'all?
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah, it depends on the day. We're being real, right? That's what we're doing.
Michelle Lynne
That's what we do here, man.
Jonathan Ramirez
That's what I thought. I've caught up on the podcast to know. I would say 95 to 97% of the time, it is wonderful because we both have pretty defined lanes that we stay in. And when we're not sure, I ask for help in the arenas that I'm not certain about that she's definitely got things in order on and vice versa. But I think it's pretty important that we defined those lanes like Lauren was talking about of us separating, I can do this, someone else do this. And then just owning that and having trust that she's gonna get her part done, and her trusting that I'll get my part done.
Michelle Lynne
Yeah. Having that job description makes such a huge difference.
Jonathan Ramirez
Very curious to know how Lauren would answer that question.
Michelle Lynne
Dun dun dun.
Lauren Ramirez
No, I agree. I would say 95% of the time it's working beautifully. Typically, we're not in the same place. I usually still commute into our office in Austin, and Jonathan works from home most of the time. And he basically, we've said that he's in charge of HR, marketing, and kind of the finance department. And then I'm still handling all the sales, our team like the design team, and then the client relationships. And so it's a pretty clear boundary of like, he's handling stuff that he can handle because he doesn't need to be thinking about designer clients and I'm handling everything related to designing clients. And so that's worked out pretty well. We've had, and it's funny, the things that we disagree on are really small things, like, the color of the hats.
Michelle Lynne
Oh, that's awesome.
Lauren Ramirez
We fight about the color of the hats.
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah. She doesn't like red apparently.
Michelle Lynne
Oh, yeah.
Lauren Ramirez
Like little things, or like, I don't know, time-off policy. We had to, like really hash it out about how we were going to handle time off and like, you know, things like that. It's not about big picture stuff. It's like small minutiae stuff that sometimes we disagree on.
Michelle Lynne
But that's to be expected, like from husband and wife, also from, you know, business partners. That's just gonna happen. But I love the fact that you have each person's lanes. Early in my marriage with my husband now, I think we just celebrated 14 or 15 years,
Jonathan Ramirez
Congrats.
Michelle Lynne
We decided, thanks. Yeah, Lord knows it's a lot of work. And y'all are 24/7 it. So we used to butt heads in the kitchen. Like who's doing what? And so we finally delineate it, okay, you're the chef, I'm the sous chef. Or I'm the chef, you're the sous chef. Like, when we have those roles, what a difference it makes, so you know who the lead is. So even if you are working on a project together, like the overall business or even just a smaller project, I think it's healthy to just have those boundaries. Like the mind-reading thing doesn't work.
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah.
Michelle Lynne
How old are your kids, now?
Jonathan Ramirez
They are nine, our youngest is nine, going on 22. And our oldest is 11, going on 82.
Michelle Lynne
There you go. That makes sense. So what did they think about y'all working together? Do they even recognize the difference?
Lauren Ramirez
They do.
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah. Yeah, they do. They, I think they get tired of us talking about work. And they make, they know that that's a little lever they can pull here and there. Even when it's not happening, like well, all you're gonna do is talk about work. I had a friend that, when I was still in tech, as I was making my departure and transitioning out of the business, he said, I love what you're doing. I will tell you as the Jewish son of an entrepreneurial family whose father and mother worked together, he said, the one thing I remember is dinners often involved mom and dad finishing their work conversations. And he said, I will warn you as a family man, and someone who loves his daughters. And I know Lauren does too, be careful that you have boundaries because as a child, I remember I sure would like to talk to them about my day, instead of letting them finish their conversation. And that's something that's, I really want to be conscious about shutting it down when it's over and making sure we have time for family. Not always easy, though.
Michelle Lynne
What a great piece of advice. And I mean, you just feel that in your heart, right?
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah.
Michelle Lynne
Barbara Corcoran, the Shark Tank, real estate chick. I saw her speak one time. And she said, when she's at work, nobody calls unless like a kid is on fire. And she's just like, 100% focused at work. And then as soon as she comes home, she puts her phone down. And nobody calls from work unless like the building is burning down. And I just thought that that was such a huge focus, because who says you can't have it all? You just have to be extremely focused at the time that you are, and be present with wherever you are.
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah.
Michelle Lynne
Love that. Do you think the girls will follow your footsteps? I mean, I know it's still early. But if she's 92.
Lauren Ramirez
That one wants to be a pastry chef.
Michelle Lynne
Oh, fun.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah. I'm highly encouraging that. The other one, we're not sure, the younger one, she could end up in a wide variety of fields. I have no idea.
Michelle Lynne
Too funny.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah. When we told them that Jonathan was going to leave tech, because they were very familiar with his career in tech, and they knew what that meant for them. You know, there were a lot of perks. But he also would have to work late, there was a lot of schmoozing and boozing and concerts and things like that.
Michelle Lynne
Yeah.
Lauren Ramirez
They were kind of like, wait, what? What is dad going to do in design? Like, they were very skeptical. And so I think now they see that, no, he's just still on the computer all day. They don't really know what he's doing.
Michelle Lynne
Oh, that's funny. That is very funny. That's cool, though, that they can see you guys and that relationship of, just a partnership, is really just such a beautiful thing. The fact that it's carried over into business, strengthens it in a different way. So you were talking about hiring people and Lord knows, like, where are you attracting top talent? Because this, you know, this is just such a hard time to find good quality people. Jonathan, coming out of corporate, did you bring any tricks?
Jonathan Ramirez
You know, I tried. I'm trying and I'm still experimenting, because not all of my tricks that I learned are applicable. And I'm finding that out the hard way in some cases. But I would say on the recruiting side, I had a business leader and a mentor once that said, as an executive or at the vice president level, you have to be thinking strategically about the future of the business and planning for things to go south. And I think part of that, and something that we can sometimes take for granted, are the teammates that we have helping us along the way. And maybe a cautionary tale for some, but when you lose key players, and you don't have a pipeline in the same way you need a business pipeline of new leads coming in, you also need a recruitment pipeline. And that was something that I learned early on was to always be recruiting, and always have more people that are, you're getting excited about the role, you're sharing about the company, you're showing up at those career fairs. And we're spoiled to have the UT, University of Texas School of Architecture, in our backyard here. And so we go to those events, and we meet the new crop of freshmen that are coming in and the seniors that are about to graduate.
Michelle Lynne
So you're planting seeds early.
Jonathan Ramirez
That's right. And we want them to know that we're out here and that we do residential, because at the school, they teach them a lot of commercial. But there are some students that are drawn towards residential, and we want to communicate to them a clear path. And I think that's important in building that security because they're coming right out of school. And so creating a program that says, we can take you from a brand new, you know, ink still wet on the paper, graduate, and put you into a junior designer track after a short internship just to make sure this is a fit. And if you make it into the junior designer track, now we've got a four-year plan to take you to designer one, designer two, senior designer with perks and level-ups along the way that you can predict and get excited about. And makes our investment worth it in that person's training.
Michelle Lynne
I love that. And just knowing, because that's one thing that I have not put together is like that track. Like here, if you come on, this is what we've got going on because I just started off small and wanted to stay small. And then like you said, it's like, oh, shit, I need to plan for, you know, Megan just had a baby, Debbie's gonna not want to work until she's 90, you know, all the things. And it's just like filling that back pipeline. So, and because we teach design business practices, I feel it's really important to stay relevant. I need to have a design firm.
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah, when Jonathan started talking about recruiting, I got very overwhelmed because I was like, I feel like we've already got, you know, I guess when you came on, we had, there were three designers plus an assistant, a design assistant. And I was kind of like, that feels like a lot to me, like I'm managing a lot.
Michelle Lynne
Lots of personalities.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah, for sure. And he started talking about recruiting, and I was like a deer in the headlights, like what? Like, you want to do that now? Like, we're in a good place. Like, we don't need more people. And he was like, no, no, we absolutely need to be recruiting. And so he's definitely taken that on. And it's making a huge difference. Not only that he's able to spearhead it. But then he also figured out this whole track of like, where are we going? Because before, I'd always just kind of piecemealed it together. And like, I had no idea where anybody was going career development-wise. I was just like, I don't know, we all still have jobs. I don't know what's going on.
Michelle Lynne
And that project wrapped up. It's really pretty.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah.
Michelle Lynne
Yes, yes.
Lauren Ramirez
And I just, you know, there's just a lot I think, in the brain of a designer, where you're like, I'm not focusing on figuring out how to provide these people with steady predictable careers, I'm focusing on not botching it over here in this other department. And so he's really been able to round that out and it's something that our junior designers had point-blank asked for, and I'm glad that they had asked for it because that really made us realize how important it is for them. You know, if we're spending a year or two investing in them, just getting them up to speed, because it really does take almost a year for somebody to like learn all of our processes and learn the softwares and make it through project start to completion, you know, like they really need to see projects all the way through and that takes a year these days.
Michelle Lynne
Yeah, if not longer, holy cow.
Michelle Lynne
Yeah, for sure. And so, you know, if we're giving them that investment, they want to know, where are they going with this? You know, our goal is that we are creating very long-term relationships with our team, like we do not want to be bouncing around and have them bounced around.
Michelle Lynne
Amen. Amen. So Amanda, who is my newest hire, is helping me with the podcast and doing a lot of the transcribing. So Amanda, when you're listening to this, we're gonna put one together for you.
Jonathan Ramirez
Now you're in the hot seat.
Michelle Lynne
Exactly, like oh, shoot. But that's awesome. Because it definitely, it's clear in my mind, but you have to write it down.
Lauren Ramirez
Yes.
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah.
Michelle Lynne
That's just, I mean, that's business. Like, we have processes and procedures, which has allowed me to create this podcast and all the other fun things that we do. But if it's not written down, it's not real.
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah. And I think it helps a lot with just the mindset for your staff to know what's coming. And there's no surprise when you say, I'm presenting to you this path that I've put together, maybe I value your input, maybe I can't afford to value your input, but I can at least be honest with you about the path as we see it ahead for you. And then if they don't like that, there's no surprise when they get down the road and say, well, I thought that we were gonna, I heard you once say, it's all written down, and it's clear, and they know what's coming. And there's a certain amount of stability in that I hope to offer to our team.
Michelle Lynne
But it sets expectations.
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah.
Michelle Lynne
Because seriously, like, anytime you have, somebody's disappointed, it's because their expectations were not met. I mean, it's as simple as that. So if you can set those expectations and it's written down so that it is black and white, there's no really argument to it. You agree to it or you don't and that's okay. No harm, no foul.
Jonathan Ramirez
Exactly.
Michelle Lynne
Well, I've got some homework after this.
Jonathan Ramirez
You know, you've been a part of my homework in getting started. And one of the things that we love about this transition is teaching our kids that you can make a change. And that it's okay. There's not like one clear path and if you deviate from it you're in trouble. They've watched dad learn a new industry, but I just want, I feel like I'm talking to a celebrity getting to talk to you. You are one of a few podcasts that have content that has helped me tremendously in getting up to speed on this industry because I knew nothing other than the bad stuff when Lauren would have bad days. With you, I've taken so many ideas that I've heard off of your podcast with your guests and started trying to create systems and implement them on our team.
Michelle Lynne
Oh, rock on.
Jonathan Ramirez
So I just want to say thanks for that and also I feel really excited to talk to you.
Michelle Lynne
That's just so weird to me, but I'm excited that it's helped you. It's like, we had people come up to us in High Point, I was there with Debbie, and they're like, oh my god, it's Michelle. I'm like, yeah, it's the weirdest thing. So yeah, that just cracks me up. But thank you. And I'm so glad that it helps, like that is, that's what we're here for.
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah.
Michelle Lynne
Because like, nobody shares this shit. And this job is hard.
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah. I don't know how I would have made the transition if I didn't have the ability to listen, take notes, and have conversations with her that are then informed. I heard Michelle talking with so and so, one of your guests is one of our clients we just realized also, your friend Nicole.
Michelle Lynne
Laino? Oh, dude, are you doing her house?
Jonathan Ramirez
We are, yeah.
Michelle Lynne
Oh, I'm so excited! Yes. That's so funny. I love her to pieces. And she asked if we could help. I was like, girl, you need more than what we can provide at this point. Oh, that's so fun.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah.
Michelle Lynne
She's just amazing.
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah, we think so too.
Lauren Ramirez
We figured it out on our initial walkthrough. Because she was talking about how she was familiar with design because she'd been on this podcast and she mentioned your podcast and I was like, wait a minute.
Michelle Lynne
Yes, she's one of my master coaches in the bakery.
Jonathan Ramirez
Right.
Michelle Lynne
Yes. Oh my gosh, give her an extra hug for me when you see her.
Lauren Ramirez
I will.
Michelle Lynne
Yeah, she's just such a blessing. Such a blessing. Oh my gosh, it's such a small world.
Jonathan Ramirez
It is.
Lauren Ramirez
It is.
Michelle Lynne
And heck, down in Austin as well, my bonus son was, he graduated from school during the pandemic, but he was down there, my in-laws are down there. Just such a, maybe when I go back down to visit I'll show up at your door, HouseMill.
Jonathan Ramirez
Please do.
Lauren Ramirez
That would be great.
Michelle Lynne
Well, that Dripping Springs with some gin and some vodka, hello.
Lauren Ramirez
All of it. It's all here.
Jonathan Ramirez
Whatever your poison is, it's here.
Michelle Lynne
Yeah. I'm telling you. I didn't drink gin for a long time. But my father-in-law turned me on to it. I love The Botanist, it's a really good gin. But Dripping Springs Gin, it's, I mean that price point is sweet. And it's a good flavor.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah.
Jonathan Ramirez
We were there last weekend.
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah, for a fundraiser.
Michelle Lynne
Yeah. That sounds like fun. All right, so we can just go down so many bunny trails. Now, Lauren, you had mentioned, I think, offline, that you had a creative ladies night in Austin.
Lauren Ramirez
Mm-hmm.
Michelle Lynne
What is it? And why do you do it? What has it turned into? Like all the things. Tell me about that.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah. So the synopsis is, basically in 2016, just a few months after I launched my business, I was finding myself often having conversations because I have very deep roots in Austin. And so I know a lot of people here. I mean, I was born here, but then grew up in the hill country, and then came back to UT. So I'd been here for a long, long time.
Michelle Lynne
Oh yeah.
Lauren Ramirez
And so I felt like I knew people in a lot of different circles and different places around town, and I found myself often having a conversation with the photographer saying, oh, Molly, you really need to meet my friend Sarah, she's a textile designer. She's doing this cool thing over here. And you guys need to meet Alison because she's an interior designer doing hospitality and she could use these pillows. And you know, I was very connect-y, I guess if that's the word.
Michelle Lynne
Kind of recruiting in your own right.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah, yeah, just finding a lot of energy in the fact that I was like, I know people who should know each other. And so I just randomly decided in the spring of that year to just invite like, 10 women over, I still had little ones. I mean, at that point in time, Adelaide and Eloise were still quite young. And so I remember putting them to bed. And then like 10 women came over and we had a bunch of appetizers and cocktails, and I just invited them into my living room. And I was like, I feel like you guys all need to know each other.
Michelle Lynne
Oh, I love that.
Lauren Ramirez
And so people stayed really late and had a lovely time, and all visited and at the end, somebody said, I think we should do this again. Next month, I'll do it at my house. And everybody bring a friend. And I was like, sounds good. And so that is how it was born. It definitely, I did not set out to start this ongoing networking thing. But up until the pandemic, we didn't miss a month for like, four years. And we would trade off meeting in homes, creative spaces, galleries, showrooms, and we kind of opened it up to anybody who was working in a creative field or was passionate, maybe it was their side hustle. And so you know, sometimes it would be a, like we did one in a bakery, because there's this woman making these amazing meringues that are like art, and you know, just interesting things that kind of get your wheels turning about women working in creative fields and supporting each other. We had to take a hiatus obviously, because of the pandemic, and we tried to do some online events that were, meh. And so we kind of just put it on hold, but we're back up and running again. And I'm super excited about it. Because pre-pandemic we had gotten to where our email list was over 800 women, we have a super active Facebook group, and businesses were coming to me asking if they could please host because they had heard about the group. And they knew what a strong passionate group of ladies that it included. And so they wanted to have the opportunity to host us and bring people into their spaces and tell them about what they were doing. So it has just grown.
Michelle Lynne
I freaking love that. I want to drive down to Austin once a month.
Lauren Ramirez
Come, it's so fun. You'll have a lovely time. It's great.
Michelle Lynne
Oh my gosh, and I just love the fact that it's just women supporting women.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah.
Michelle Lynne
And just the businesses that can you know, commingle and support each other and whatnot.
Jonathan Ramirez
It's really cool.
Michelle Lynne
Yeah, that sounds like fun. Good. That's, yeah, that's really neat. Okay, I'm kind of speechless at that. I love that. And the fact that it's grown so much, and there's so much energy behind it, and just all that positivity.
Jonathan Ramirez
All organic.
Michelle Lynne
Yeah. And I think it's, I think a lot of success just comes out of wanting to help others. And just truly giving a shit.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah, I very much agree. I feel like that community over competition is so critical. And, you know, to bring it kind of full circle back to when we lived in Africa, there was a woman that we lived on a compound with her and her husband, and she was like the matriarch of the village, her name was Eunice. And I got to spend time with her. And she was one of the only adults around who spoke any English. And so I relied heavily on her to help me understand what was going on on a daily basis. But, you know, she had been educated in the city in Kampala and then had come back to her village. And she told me that part of the reason why she came back was because she really believed that you could have the most impact in the place that you're from. And we also saw that as outsiders living over there, you know, everyone always views you as an outsider. Partially because we looked dramatically different than everyone else. But also they knew that we always had a plane ticket out, like if things got rough over there, we could leave and they couldn't.
Michelle Lynne
Oh, yeah.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah, it's an interesting, like, mental place to be. And so I came home with a lot of conviction about that concept of like, if you really want to make a difference, you can go very deep and very far in the place that you're from. But just because you understand the culture, you know the nuances of, the ins and outs of the community, you speak the language, like, I mean, there are practical reasons, but there's much deeper, like, emotional and spiritual and relational reasons why you can have a strong impact in the place that you're from. And so that was part of why I was like, Okay, I'll just give this thing a try. Like, I think I can connect people here in my hometown, I can do this, you know? And I think that's part of why it's just grown organically is because it's just kind of been like, yeah, like, let's sink down deep roots here. We're not going to always be dreaming about making connections elsewhere. Let's do it here.
Michelle Lynne
And it's so much easier.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah.
Michelle Lynne
I mean, I love, you know, traveling. And yeah, if anybody has a house in the Hamptons, that they want designed, give us a call. But I mean, just logistically speaking, it's so much easier to be close to home.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah.
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah.
Michelle Lynne
And sleep in your own bed. Yeah. I love that. And I was just gonna say something as well. I don't remember what it was. But oh, I know, a rising tide lifts all boats. And so it's truly that's what you're doing through your creative ladies night. Very fun. Okay. Well, don't be surprised if I just show up at one of them. That could be so much fun. I love that. Okay, so awesome. So if y'all have been listening to the podcast, you know what's next. This is our fun little rapid-fire Q&A session. And like I had just mentioned, I was coming up with some new questions because it feels like we were getting a little stale. So you guys are gonna be my guinea pigs. And then, since there's two of y'all, you know, whoever just wants to rapid-fire it, both of you, one of you whatever the case may be. There's no right or wrong. Okay? And there are no buzzers.
Lauren Ramirez
Okay.
Michelle Lynne
All right. So we'll start off easy. What's your dream travel destination?
Jonathan Ramirez
Spain.
Michelle Lynne
Favorite ice cream?
Lauren Ramirez
Mint chocolate chip.
Jonathan Ramirez
Lactose intolerant.
Michelle Lynne
Have you had the coconut ice cream?
Lauren Ramirez
Yes.
Jonathan Ramirez
The HEB brand is pretty good. There's no replacement for the real thing.
Michelle Lynne
No, there definitely isn't. I agree with you there. Okay, so then how about your favorite cookie?
Lauren Ramirez
Chocolate chip.
Jonathan Ramirez
Chocolate anything.
Michelle Lynne
Do either of you have tattoos?
Lauren Ramirez
Yes.
Jonathan Ramirez
We both do.
Lauren Ramirez
We have our wedding fingers tattooed.
Michelle Lynne
Oh, I love that. Did it hurt?
Lauren Ramirez
Yes.
Michelle Lynne
Yeah. I thought about doing the same thing just because I don't like to wear jewelry. So that comes in handy. All right. Um, if you could have one superpower, what would it be?
Jonathan Ramirez
Flight, for sure.
Lauren Ramirez
I knew you were gonna say that.
Jonathan Ramirez
What would you say?
Lauren Ramirez
Being omniscient.
Jonathan Ramirez
Wow.
Michelle Lynne
That can come in handy with business.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah.
Michelle Lynne
What's your favorite book?
Jonathan Ramirez
The Brothers Karamazov.
Lauren Ramirez
I love to read. I cannot pick a favorite. I go through novels really, really fast.
Michelle Lynne
Do you?
Lauren Ramirez
So I can't pick a favorite, yeah.
Michelle Lynne
What have you read most recently?
Lauren Ramirez
Um, I have read, I read Wonder because our youngest daughter read it. And so she asked me to read it. And then we got to talk about it. That's a great one.
Michelle Lynne
That's cool.
Lauren Ramirez
It was fun to get inside the mind of a fifth-grader since I also have a fifth-grader. So that was cool. And I'm reading one right now, Local Woman Missing. I have to stop myself because it gets so intense, and I'm like, I have to be able to sleep, so I'm going to stop reading now. Because I want to be able to fall asleep.
Michelle Lynne
That makes sense. That makes sense. And Jonathan, what was the name of yours? I write these down so that I can always go back and find good books.
Jonathan Ramirez
It's a long Russian novel called The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky. Our oldest daughter is named after a character in there.
Michelle Lynne
Oh, wow. So you really have loved it for a long time?
Jonathan Ramirez
Yes.
Michelle Lynne
All right. I'll be looking that up. Okay. Dog or cat?
Lauren Ramirez
Dog.
Jonathan Ramirez
Dog.
Michelle Lynne
Red or white wine?
Lauren Ramirez
White.
Jonathan Ramirez
Tequila.
Michelle Lynne
Casamigos.
Jonathan Ramirez
Yes. Now you're talking.
Michelle Lynne
When was the last time you took a nap?
Lauren Ramirez
Oh, I did. I took a power nap on Saturday. It lasted approximately 15 minutes. It felt great.
Jonathan Ramirez
I want to say 20 years ago maybe.
Michelle Lynne
So speaking of 20 years ago, what's one piece of advice you would give your 20-year-old self?
Lauren Ramirez
I would say, for me, it would be to have grace with yourself. I push myself hard and I hold myself to very high standards and I create a lot of stress for myself. What would yours be?
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah, I would say don't narrow your focus so much, early on.
Michelle Lynne
Yeah. Good stuff, y'all. Okay, last question would be, is if you could have dinner with anybody, past or present, who would you invite?
Jonathan Ramirez
Does Jesus count?
Michelle Lynne
Yes, that's a good one.
Jonathan Ramirez
It would definitely be Jesus for me. And now Lauren's gonna, whatever you say is incorrect.
Lauren Ramirez
Yeah, I don't know.
Michelle Lynne
Well, you don't have to have them to the same dinner party. So let's say you had dinner with Jesus on Friday, and then you were going to have another dinner party on Saturday. Who would the next guest be?
Lauren Ramirez
Hmm, I think Anne Lamott is really interesting.
Michelle Lynne
Oh, yeah. Agreed. She's got some good books.
Lauren Ramirez
I would love to pick her brain. Just hang out with her at dinner.
Michelle Lynne
Lord knows it would be funfilled.
Lauren Ramirez
Yes.
Michelle Lynne
Both of them would be. I love that. Well, thank y'all for being on the show today. Like, it's just been such a pleasure. And I could probably talk another hour or so. But in respect for our friends' time, because I really want to hear like, what took you to Africa? How long were you there? Like all the things. But maybe we'll just hang up and do that in a second. Tell the audience, how can they connect with you?
Jonathan Ramirez
Yeah, you can find us on the web, our website is housemilldesign.com. That's also our Instagram handle, which is I think, where the more interesting content tends to be. We're on Facebook also, that's more of an afterthought in reality.
Michelle Lynne
Yes.
Jonathan Ramirez
And that's pretty much it. Yeah. And if anybody, we try to monitor social media, so if anybody wanted to reach out, or ask questions, we'd be happy to chat with them.
Michelle Lynne
Love that. Love, love, love it. So I will make sure that those details are listed in the show notes so that our audience can find them. And then for those of you who can benefit from even more resources surrounding the business of running your interior design business, join the growing community on Facebook's private group, it's The Interior Designers Business Launchpad. And yeah, I know, it's Facebook, it's not nearly as cool or as fun as the other platforms. But it's the best place for a free group. And it's very active. So I will see you there. And until next time, thank you, Lauren and Jonathan, this has been fun.
Jonathan Ramirez
Thank you, Michelle.
Lauren Ramirez
Thank you so much for having us. We appreciate it.
Michelle Lynne
Hey, y'all. If you love the show and find it useful, I would really appreciate it if you would share with your friends and followers. And if you like what you're hearing, want to put a face with a name, and get even more business advice, then join me in my Facebook group, The Interior Designers Business Launchpad. Yeah, I know it's Facebook, but just come on in for the training and then leave without scrolling your feed. It's fine. I promise you'll enjoy it. And finally, I hear it's good for business to get ratings on your podcast. So please drop yours on whatever platform you use to listen to this. We're all about community over competition. So let's work on elevating our industry, one designer at a time. See you next time.
