Michelle Lynne 0:02
Welcome to design for the creative mind, a podcast for interior designers and creative entrepreneurs to run their business with purpose, efficiency and passion. Because, well, every design is different, the process should remain the same. Prepare yourself for some good conversations with amazing guests, a dash of Jesus and a touch of the whoo whoo. And probably a swear word or two. If you're ready to stop trading your time for money and enjoy your interior design business. You are in the right place. I'm your host, Michelle Lynn.
All right, welcome back to the podcast. Everybody. I'm so happy you're here today, because I have a fellow interior design business coach Desi Cresswell, she is a life and business coach for interior designers. And I just wanted to spend some time introducing different resources to the audience and Desi, as somebody that I've interacted with on social media, had some conversations about trying to understand how we complement each other's programs, so that we can share resources and referrals and so forth. So does he welcome to the podcast. I'm so excited. You're here.
Desi Cresswell 1:28
Thank you, I am so excited to be here. Yes.
Michelle Lynne 1:31
And I think it's also just great for us to lead by example. Because I believe that you and I both agree that there's so much business, whether you're an interior designer, or if you're a coach, for interior designers or anything, that there's so much business for all of us, it's not competition, it's all about building a community that you can turn around and, and ask questions about and so forth. You asked me the other day about a VA or something. And we can go back and forth because we know like and trust each other. And so community over collaborate community over competition from us as thought leaders in the industry as well as showing interior designers that we practice what we preach. Absolutely. So I'm so glad you're here. So I'm just going to dig in ask you some questions about like who you are, and see how we can share with our clients the benefits of having coaching in your life as a business owner. But let's start that you used to be an interior designer. Yes. Yeah. So you understand the pain? What led you to actually become a coach?
Desi Cresswell 2:41
Yeah. So it's, you know, when I look back, it probably was the very first seed of this journey, when I was a commercial interior designer. And realizing that I had had this very clear vision of working my way up in these, you know, very prestigious firms that I was in, and then realizing I don't want my boss's job. And that really led me to starting my own residential practice, which I ran for about eight years. And what happened was, it kind of had a snowball effect, I started having really great success in terms of, you know, getting great clients getting published, all the external things that you would look at and say, Yeah, that's a successful business. But what happened was, the reason I started my business and wanted to go residential was because I had a vision that that was going to allow for a lot of freedom and flexibility. And really being with the family that we envisioned starting. And I was
Speaker 1 3:47
gonna make a bucket of money, I'm going to set my own schedule, and I'm going to make houses beautiful. Exactly.
Desi Cresswell 3:52
I ended up creating just another job for myself. And I ended up in the same spot where I felt like, okay, I can either, like just totally quit, or I can just kind of slog on, and maybe this is just the way the industry is supposed to be. And you know, we had a lot of fun. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's super fun, super fun. And, you know, I ended up actually taking a year off when we had our second child, because I really felt like that was the only option. I couldn't figure out where that middle space was. And then I started to get the itch to go back to work, and ended up hiring a coach myself. And really, the question I wanted to answer for myself was, how much do I want to mom? And how much do I want to work? Because I thought that that was like some equation I needed to solve. Well, if I just figure out maybe it's 15 hours of mommying, and then I'll do you know, 20 hours of design and then I'll be fulfilled. And what I ended up was that easy. Yeah, I know what I ended up uncovering really was that it didn't have to be such an either or it could be really this and, and I started to apply the coaching tools, the really the life coaching tools to my business to my life, and just saw what I was capable of actually creating in the amount of time that I wanted to give it. And really who I got to become in the process of doing that work. And loving that process so much. And realizing like this is something that people really need, and especially interior designers. Yeah,
Michelle Lynne 5:33
amen to that. So let's talk about that. Because one of the things that I want to do for the audience is to expose them to the fact that there are different different coaches, different personalities, different methodologies, different services. So my coaching is literally how do you run the business of your interior design business? Like this is what you do? Here's how you go, here's the processes. Here's the templates, la La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, we touch on mindset a little bit, because you have to believe it to achieve it. But but tell tell the audience tell the listeners, like what do you do? What, what kind of coaching do you bring to the table? Who do you work with? How do you work with them? What problems do you help them solve? Because you and I fall in the same space. But it's different coaching for different points in your life, different points in your career, sometimes they overlap. Sometimes they collide, sometimes, and they dovetail one off of the other back to back. So what what kind of coaching do you bring to the table?
Desi Cresswell 6:38
So one of the things that I love about our industry is that there are so many people like you sharing the How to with very specific templates, and this is what's worked for me, these are best practices. That's amazing. And at the same time, what I see is we just get in our own way. And that's really the emphasis of the mindset coaching that I bring, I can help you with strategy, certainly, because I've been through it myself and know how to run a successful business. But at the same time, if we are so in our heads, we've got the limiting beliefs about what we're, you know, what's possible for our business, what we're capable of, that is going to be the actual thing that prevents us from having the success, much more so than having the actual how to?
Michelle Lynne 7:28
Yes, because if you're in your head, you're dead, because somebody can hand you the exact recipe. But if you don't believe that you're capable of doing it, you're never gonna start.
Desi Cresswell 7:40
Yes, exactly. Yeah. And I was having this conversation with a private client recently where, you know, she kept really wanting to have like, this marketing plan. And she kept looking for all these different ways that she could potentially market. And as you know, we've got Google, there's, you know, a billion different ways that we could mark it, there's a million different templates, you could go find for how to put together a project proposal. But if you're thinking that you're someone who can't confidently charge the fees that you know, you need to charge to support your business and your family, or you're not going to be confident enough to really present those numbers, because you get freaked out when you see those numbers on on the paper.
Michelle Lynne 8:26
Oh my gosh, yeah, I joke, I pee down my leg the first time i i will not literally, but I felt like I should have the first time I slid across a five figure design fee, which really should have been six times what it was for the work that we did, but you have to know that what you bring to the table adds the value.
Desi Cresswell 8:49
Absolutely. And that's really where the mindset piece comes in. I like to think of it as really we're solving for the root issue, versus just all of the symptoms. So it's kind of like if you had a broken arm, and you took some ibuprofen, yes, that would doll some pain. But it's also not going to actually solve the issue that you have the broken arm. And it's the same thing with business. Like we can hand you a here's the step by step process for how to sign a luxury client. But if you're believing to begin with, that you're not someone who does that, or that you don't have enough experience or you don't have the right training, whatever it is, you're not going to be able to get through that cycle and actually implement successfully. And maybe you can force your way and willpower your way through it. But you're going to have an awful experience of doing it along the way. And I absolutely agree with you, that I love for clients to do is really to start you know, often when they come to me they're overwhelmed. And they're just, you know, kind of in that same position I was at Like I'm going to quit, or maybe I should go work for someone else. This is no fun. So like, let's start enjoying it and creating our own experience that we want to create in our business because we have the total power to do that.
Michelle Lynne 10:12
And I think so many of us are so busy pleasing other people that we don't realize that we have that power, and that us playing big and like stepping into our badass hurry or bad Asness. Like we can step into that. And that doesn't mean that we're bad people. Absolutely. Y'all, this podcast episode was made possible in part by foyer, a lightning fast interior design software that creates photorealistic renderings. I'm not kidding, you can barely tell that it's not a real room. So why leave your beautiful designs up to the imagination of your client, when you can show them what their space is going to look like. You will sign more clients and get more approvals with the software. It's powered by artificial intelligence, and a whole vouch for its ease. Because if I can do it, anybody can. Because y'all know that my design team are the ones who do all the work, find [email protected], as well as in the show notes. So what I've what I've learned is that our mind is always there to protect us. So it's always looking for what's wrong. It's an ancient piece of software that was developed to keep us from, you know, falling down cliffs dealing with warring tribes and running from Tyrannosaurus Rex. So although I understand that the T Rex was vegetarian, so technically, we were just running because he was a lot bigger. But that software that we have in our head, and I say this over and over, it's never been updated. So it's always looking for what's wrong. And it's always telling us that we're not good enough. So getting out of our own way. Yeah,
Desi Cresswell 11:59
I think and I think that is really the power of having a coach, because our brain is constantly scanning for that danger. And we also have certain things that are just basically they're very strong neural pathways that are formed in our brain. And
Michelle Lynne 12:14
yes, I love that. And for those who don't know, what neural pathways are, do you want to explain that? Yeah,
Desi Cresswell 12:21
it's kind of like, I think the best way to describe it is let me give you a visual, right. So you've got, let's say, maybe you're a runner, and you like to trail run, and you find a new path to go along, you start running on there, most people can't see that you've run along or left many footsteps. But if you start taking that path on a daily basis, all of a sudden, there's this big divot, that's gonna start to occur, and you're gonna be able to see exactly where you've run. And it's the exact same thing with the neurons in our brain, that when they fire together, they wire together as the same. And we just strengthen those beliefs that we have.
Michelle Lynne 13:01
And they might not be true beliefs. But because we keep going down that path, we start believing it because our brain doesn't know the difference between real and imaginary. So if you keep telling the story, you're not good enough, you're not good enough. You're not good enough. those neural pathways get deep. Exactly. So you can help your clients rewire those?
Desi Cresswell 13:22
Absolutely. That is a huge part of my work. That is amazing. Yeah. And and that's really, I think, such the power of having a coach is that because these belief systems that we've adopted, you know, whether it's from childhood, or just, you know, random, passing comments that we've heard, yes, you know, we are, we're going around like, those are truths. Like, we're just reporting the news, like, I'm just disorganized. I'm a bad planner. All these are just beliefs that we adopt about ourselves. And we don't have the awareness to recognize them as beliefs and as optional. And that's really why I think having a coach, whatever stage you're in of your business is so important, because they're able to reflect back to you now. Hold on, wait a second, like, where did you pick that up from?
Unknown Speaker 14:15
Yeah, hold, please.
Desi Cresswell 14:17
Yes. Is that actually true? Like, let's poke some holes in that and see, is that true one, and is it serving you? And if it's not, what do you want to believe instead? And let's go create evidence of that.
Michelle Lynne 14:30
I love that because you really have to recognize it's just a thought and you are not your thoughts. So that's just a thought you can say, hey, thought, I see you. Mm hmm. And recognize it and call it out and replace it with something else.
Desi Cresswell 14:47
Yeah, and I think we really have to poke around to because it can be difficult to just thought switch, right? Like sometimes for things that can be easy. We just swap in another one. But sometimes these things are like very ingrained in us. Yeah. And that's why a lot of my sessions with clients, there's just so many asking of questions to help uncover what's really going on under there.
Michelle Lynne 15:13
Do you find that there are repeated stories lies, issues within the interior design or industry community clients that you work with? Like, is there something? Yeah. A lot of what would be what would you say would be your top three? Just off the top? Gosh,
Desi Cresswell 15:34
oh, gosh, that's really hard to to narrow it down. Let
Michelle Lynne 15:39
me think we're just in general,
Desi Cresswell 15:41
I mean, I think one of them, that's a real, that's a real challenge. And this goes back to people pleasing, which is why I have a whole module on it in my group program is like, I want to be flexible. I want to be available. Right? I want to be accommodating. Like there are all kinds of, you know, very similar flavors there love that. Yeah. And the other ones probably, like, I'm not good at numbers, or I'm not good at the money side of business, or I'm not good at the business side of the business, something along those lines. Right. And then I think the other one is really related to talent of like, I might not be as good as I think I am.
Michelle Lynne 16:22
Oh, interesting. Yeah. Because we're scrolling through Instagram all the time, and always see the highlight reels. And I got some ugly projects, like early on, like, they're not in my portfolio. I probably I probably deleted them from everything. But yes, no evidence. But yeah, we all have to start somewhere. And it sounds like what you do is such a service for, for women, that these are these are, I mean, mindset is important for everybody. My husband and I are big fans of Dr. Joe Dispenza. Like even some of the stuff that Tony Robbins teaches, and just like Gabrielle Bernstein, you can you can dive down into all of these. And there's a very similar path. And you know, just think I even heard something on a TED talk at one point, it might not have been a TED talk, but Richard Branson, like he struggles with impostor syndrome sometimes. So I think it's just recognizing that and knowing that there's people like you who understand it, and help people overcome it. So in my program, we talked about it. But there's so many other things to cover, I don't have the bandwidth, nor the expertise to dive into teaching that. So knowing that you're out there, you know, you and I complement each other's work really well. So for the individuals who are afraid to to think that they can't implement my program, they need to go see you first. And then when they get that information, or they do take my course. And then they need to remind themselves that there are still things that they need to work on, then I need to say you too, yeah,
Desi Cresswell 18:02
yeah. Because what I what I see happen is, and I think this is really common in our industry, there's so many resources out there, whether it be the paid programs, or webinars or podcasts, things like that, that you can listen to. And I think that there's a tendency among creatives to want to do it all and do it all at once. And so there's just so much consumption of information, but very little implementation. And then what ends up happening is we create evidence for ourselves that we are not someone that follows through. And then we start to doubt that we're able to actually complete a program. And we start thinking that, well, we're just not going to finish this one, just like we did every last time. And that's another reason why, you know, in my program, we talk about self accountability so much, is that we need to learn to really be accountable to ourselves, just like we would to any other client. And, and that is how then you take something like your amazing program, take the tools, implement them and run with it. So it's multifaceted.
Michelle Lynne 19:07
And I think that just knowing that there's different types of coaches, for different phases in your life, different phases in your career, different needs that you might have is so important. And when I was starting my business, there wasn't that availability. And also, I don't think I knew about it. So I think that what you do as mindset has become so much so much more mainstream. That it is important. It is work that needs to be done. And it is it isn't just woowoo No, and this is stuff that they need to teach. I mean, they need to teach this stuff in high school. Like don't believe everything you think. Yes. Can we just have a course on that?
Desi Cresswell 19:53
That'd be amazing. I mean, yeah, and the thing is, it's it's got such a ripple effect. I mean, Mike clients come to me to work on their businesses, and really grow in a sustainable way and create a business and life that work together, not in opposition. And so what they find is that the tools that they're using to follow through and implement in their business and grow, really become tools that then they start using in their relationships with their partner. And yes, yeah, and it's like, it's, it's so incredible to, to see that ripple effect, really, and to be able to offer them it's for me, it's a lot about empowerment to really decide what we want to create both personally and professionally. And then know that we have the ability to create it for ourselves. I love
Michelle Lynne 20:44
that. And I think it's so important as we're designers, we need to design our life. Exactly. But you're teaching the tools of how to have have both. Yeah, technically, I could say eat have your cake and eat it too. Since mine is the interior design business bakery. Yes. Like having the cake and eating it too. Totally, totally. We're gonna figure out how to work something out here.
Desi Cresswell 21:08
I know, I know. My brains are both there.
Michelle Lynne 21:12
All right, so let me interrupt myself to take a quick moment to thank satinath Insurance Agency for sponsoring this episode of The designed for the creative mind podcast. Their support and understanding of the interior design, decorating and home staging industries is unrivaled. Satin off understands what our businesses do. And they provide insurance that lets me sleep at night. Yep, this is the firm that I use. And they will do the same for your sleep habits. And your business too. They're more than an insurance agency. They're an extension of my business. They take care of the worry, because they are the experts, which allows me and my team breathing room to do what we do best designed beautiful spaces. You can find their contact information below in the show notes. Give them a call today. You know, I love to talk about all things business. But I also like to have a little bit of fun. So I like to have in this next segment. This is something I do with all of my guests. Just a rapid fire q&a format. Just kind of go through learn a little bit more about you personally. Because if people are relating to what you're saying, like let's just let them get to know you a little bit better. And then we'll talk about how people can get in touch with you and some of the things that you offer as well. So for now, rapid fire. Hmm. All right. cake or pie.
Desi Cresswell 22:38
Oh, definite. Well,
Michelle Lynne 22:39
I'm not a huge fan
Desi Cresswell 22:40
of either, but I really don't like pie. So I'm going to have to go with cake. Okay.
Michelle Lynne 22:45
Okay, so sweet or savory.
Desi Cresswell 22:48
Oh, probably savory. savory. Okay.
Michelle Lynne 22:50
Any belly button or outie? Belly button?
Desi Cresswell 22:52
Any dog or cat? Dog?
Michelle Lynne 22:56
What is your favorite form of exercise?
Desi Cresswell 22:59
Well, that's a tough one to anything. Anything. My on my peloton, app, the biking, the strength, the yoga, the running and I do it
Michelle Lynne 23:08
all? Girl, we're gonna have to get hooked up. I'm on their shell girl. Okay, okay, see your girl? Yep. But don't judge me because I haven't been on there for a while.
Desi Cresswell 23:19
Don't judge me for my obsession and wanting to be on there constantly. Well,
Michelle Lynne 23:23
it's interesting. So I got my peloton and then I went on this. People know enough about it. I went on this weight loss journey, right. And the program that I got on to don't do strenuous exercise because we're balancing out your body chemicals, your blood sugar, and all of that sort of jazz. And if you do the strenuous exercise, you're going to jack up your weight loss. Again, because as you know, weight loss is 80% in the kitchen 20% exercise, but I was like I need to do this for my mental health so I can get out and walk. But I'm starting in May. I'm gonna hop back onto that peloton and I will see you there on a regular basis because I love seeing the little dots. Like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and heck, even if it's meditation one day, I need to have that dot. Yeah,
Desi Cresswell 24:06
yeah, no, that is definitely my me time before the two little ones are like Mom, mom, so I appreciate
Michelle Lynne 24:14
that. That is awesome. Okay, so when was the last time you almost peed yourself? Because you laugh so hard.
Desi Cresswell 24:21
Oh, gosh. So this is totally like, okay, clearly I am a mom because my first thought was like, just you know how things just don't stay on like I'm, I'm remembering just yesterday.
Michelle Lynne 24:38
Either that or you're trying to do so many things. And then it's like, oh, shoot, this can't wait.
Desi Cresswell 24:47
And in a more humorous way. Maybe when I was reading like I think probably at a like David Sedaris reading or something like that, like I know you gotta love him.
Michelle Lynne 24:58
Just pat yourself up and It's been so it's been so long since like we've been to a comedy club or something. Yeah. So it's been a while. All right, beat your mountains. Oh,
Desi Cresswell 25:07
god, you're asking all these really hard questions. I love both.
Michelle Lynne 25:13
There's no right or wrong. Yemenis say. mountains,
mountains. Yeah. How about your favorite book? Do you have a favorite that just pops to the top of your head and I know there's probably 99 But what cuz
Desi Cresswell 25:25
there are there are probably. Oh, gosh, give me I'm blanking on the name of it.
Michelle Lynne 25:34
That's alright. We'll come back to that one. Yeah. When was the last time you took now?
Desi Cresswell 25:40
I have no idea. I don't know. I don't I feel awful when I wake. I feel awful when I wake up from them.
Michelle Lynne 25:46
Oh, my husband. My husband struggles with that, too. If he gets a little bit too much of a nap. He feels like he's got flu like symptoms. Alright, well, that sucks. I'd be down for four hours and I'm gonna have a cat. Left or righty. Right. Did you think of the name of the book?
Desi Cresswell 26:02
Let me look at my bookshelf. Let's see. It's radical, radical weirdness, I think no radical. Okay, I got it. radical acceptance. Oh, I'm gonna look that up. It's a Buddhist meditation teacher. But I love it.
Michelle Lynne 26:20
And I think it's so important to continue exploring. So always learning is something that I love to do. Would you say and this will be my last question. introvert or extrovert? Definitely introvert. Yeah, I can appreciate that completely. Anytime I'm in front of a crowd, or have to do something speaking or whatever. I go to a conference. Like I'm the first one up to my bedroom, like in the fetal position in my bed, ordering room service so that I can just heal for the next day. Like, oh, I have to be nice again.
Desi Cresswell 26:56
Yes, I know. I know. That's, that's comforting to hear. Because I have to plan that downtime to where I'm like, I should go to the networking reception. But I don't want to say oh my gosh, no, I'm gonna go take care of myself. And I'll see I'm
Michelle Lynne 27:10
right there with you. I will be much more powerful tomorrow. Yep. Okay. Well, Desi, thank you so much for being on the show. i My pleasure. I know our audience loved everything. And I just really want everybody to understand that there are different coaches. I'm not for everyone does, he's not for everyone. Other coaches that have been on this podcast are not for everyone, you have to search out the individual that resonates with you, because you need to trust whomever you hire. But you also have to understand what they do. I I believe in, I'm a huge advocate of mindset, but I don't have the skills necessary to teach it. Even though I can practice it. So Desi can break everything down and spell it out for you in a much more detailed manner. I'll spell out how you run your damn business are what works for me. It's not the only way but it's it does the trick. So I'm going to make sure that your your contact information is in the show notes. But why don't you go ahead and spell it out? how can listeners connect with you? And is there anything that you're currently offering that you want to let them know about? Yes,
Desi Cresswell 28:25
so I love to hang out on Instagram so you can just find me at Desi Cresswell. So definitely come say hi over there. And then I am in the process of running my group program out of overwhelm, which is amazing. I love it. The women that have been in these groups are just incredible. And the community that forms around it has been really great too. So that's a group program and the next round of that will be in July. So I can't wait to get that open, you can go to Desi cresswell.com forward slash coaching to get on the waitlist and be the first to know and I've actually I'm cooking up a very fun bonus. You're
Michelle Lynne 29:05
eating it up
Desi Cresswell 29:07
in your kitchen. Michelle.
Michelle Lynne 29:12
I'm telling you we got something here.
Desi Cresswell 29:13
I know I know. So definitely get on the waitlist. And then if you want to start implementing some of my work immediately, definitely head over to Desi cresswell.com forward slash daily planner and you can download my interior designers get it done daily planner. And this is a process that I teach you for taking back control of your day and making sure that you are getting out of that reactive cycle and starting to align your daily activities with your business goals so that you're actually moving forward. So it's a time management approach but it's also got all the mindset pieces in there that I strongly believe in and it's like no other planner that's out there.
Michelle Lynne 29:56
I love that and it's so funny that you say it's like no other planner because I could not kinda planner that I liked. So I had to make my own. Yep, exactly. It's like, this is how my brain thinks this is how I think I could teach other people. Here you go. And so adding your mindset nuggets into it. Yours is probably like Supercharged. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. So people love it y'all go download, I'm gonna go download it. Because I think it's also important as coaches that we're always learning, like not plagiarizing each other, but learning from each other, and just elevating the industry as a whole. Oh,
Desi Cresswell 30:32
absolutely. Like, I think back to when I started my residential practice, going from Commercial to Residential was a huge learning curve, of course, imagine and, you know, I was really involved in ASCD. And on the board, and I just met such incredible women through that, who were so generous with their time and knowledge and so good, you know, so definitely, like, those people are out there. Sure, you're gonna find someone who doesn't want to share their their resource with you,
Michelle Lynne 31:00
dude, it's because they don't know what they're doing. That's what I figured out. Nobody would help me 13 years ago, when I was trying to get my business off the ground. And now I just think it's because nobody really knew what they were doing. Now that we have a, I see that there's a coaching current of people who have figured it out and understand where those holes are, and are trying to plug them and, and continually help. I'm so encouraged by the number of coaches that I see. And I, like I said, there's somebody for everybody. Absolutely. So I'm excited. So I will make sure that all of your details are in the show notes, all of your website, information, your Instagram handle, and so forth. So y'all just scroll down to the show notes to check that out. And for those of you who need even more resources surrounding the business of running your interior design business, you can join the growing community on Facebook, on my Facebook's private group. It's called the interior designers business Launchpad, you can just head on over there, we do weekly training, and we are growing a beautiful community over there. Oh, and if you're enjoying this podcast, please don't forget to leave a review anywhere you're catching it. It definitely helps keep us relevant. And it will introduce us to more interior designers. 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 than join me in my Facebook group. The interior designers business launch pad. Yeah, I know it's Facebook, but just come on in for the training and then leave without scrolling your feet. It's fun. 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.
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