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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.
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Prepare yourself for some good conversations with amazing guests, a dash of Jesus and a touch of the woowoo and probably a swear word or two.
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If you're ready to stop trading your time for money and enjoy your interior design business. You are in the right place.
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I'm your host, Michelle Lynn.
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Hey people welcome back to the design for the creative mind podcast. I am your host, Michelle Lynn. And I have Jessica Harling here today with with me. Her bio as she spelled this out is passionate ringleader dynamic problem solver. And these are some of the phrases that she uses to summarize her personal brand. So Do y'all have a personal brand? Have you thought about phrases that will actually describe you in a heartbeat? Well, let me introduce Jessica. She is with behind the design, and is just a dynamo. So I am so excited to have you here, Jessica. I was gonna call you a dynamo. We met a couple months ago. So this is so fun to see you again. I know I am so thankful to be here. Thank you so much. Michelle, this is very exciting. Oh my gosh, I'm tickled. So funny story for y'all is I met Jessica at Luann live. When what when was that was that November? About? Yeah, early November, early November. And we had originally had this podcast interview scheduled back in August. Didn't know each other. We were gonna meet in August on the podcast that got rescheduled, met her in Orlando at Luann live, and then looked at my notes. I was like, Wait, hold on. I know this chick. So it's so funny. It's just such a small community, the interior design world is I know, I know. We're also interconnected. That's seven degrees of separation. And it's awesome. So Jessica, let's start by talking about your company behind the design. Yeah, what? Like, I learned about it. And I thought, well, this is a really cool idea. Let's just introduce the audience so that as we're having the rest of our conversation, they know where we're coming from. Okay, fabulous. So we build dream teams. And we do that in three ways. We help find top talent, we help them train to be comfortable in their role, and then develop processes so that they ultimately stay long term and they find some comfort and you find some profitability in having them on your team. Happily ever after. Do you so when you do the recruiting, the actual recruiting? Yes. you recruit for more than just designers? Do you do like office managers, executive assistants? Like anything that would be in that realm? That's correct. Yeah. Anything in the business of interior design or interior design trades? Everyone from your admin bookkeeper to lead or staff designer, we hire a lot of installers. That is something between interior designers and installers we get asked the most about and project managers you know, those procurement specialists Expeditors, whether it's residential or commercial? Oh, that's amazing. How did you get involved in this business? So my family ran a window covering business in Chicago, I am fourth generation, and we had five divisions to the business. One of those was interior design. And we had a couple of staff designers, we also worked as a wholesaler to interior designers. And so
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I was responsible for operations, everything and anything operations, I reported to the owners, and then everyone else reported to me. And so through that time, I did all the hiring, all the training, I actually worked in every single one of the roles every one of the divisions and so my big driver, my big passion is to pave the path behind me so that no one has to go through the same struggles challenges that I have. Love that term gave the path behind you. Yeah, and and just charge forward, you know, and bring the people that I want on board with me. So,
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you know, I was talking to my mom, my grandpa about the industry and interior design and where it's headed and one thing I saw was in my training and you know, hiring teammates, there was a bridge in
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generational gap, you know that there, there seemed to be, especially in design trades where there was, you know, maybe a baby boomer owner, as the owner, having a gap between education and being able to communicate with their knowledge and processes and all of that. But also, you know, work it into the technology world that we have today and all the tools and resources and there was this huge divide, you know, and I found a lot of people in my generation, not sticking it out and going completely to a different industry, when I've always considered this a dream industry, like, you know, who doesn't want to be a designer or work in a design company? Yeah. And I from conference after conference, every single one I went to didn't matter for how long or which ones. Every single business owner, I talked to always struggled with those same thing, three things, how do I find them? How do I train them? And how do I keep them? And I had the answer internally at the family business. And so I kept sharing my knowledge and sharing ideas. And I kept getting asked to consult and come into their businesses. And it became full time one day, and I talked to my mom and my grandpa was like, I think I can really help the industry is great or hold. And they were all for it. Because one of our core values is education. And my grandpa was always a very big consultant in the window covering industry. So kind of following in his footsteps. Oh, I love that. And I really, I especially love the fact that your family was so supportive of you, not necessarily following in the footsteps that might have been expected. Yeah, that was very important to me. I mean, that's why it was a conversation
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before leaving and putting them into that space. So by the way I started, right, which people do and I just, I feel like that's if you're gonna be a family business, you have a layer of loyalty that others don't. And we're big on that. In my family. Yeah, that makes sense. That's why it's been around for so many generations and still successful. Exactly. So how does your to like your business? How does it you had mentioned that it's going to impact the industry, but how does it impact the market? Both directly as well as indirect? Yeah. Like it? It seems like it has multiple, say, layers, but yeah, absolutely, I am. So from a direct impact. That idea of bringing new fresh blood into this industry. I am a big believer in taking the skill sets of someone and teaching them the industry terms and experience and stuff like that, because then we can broaden our industry, we can not keep, you know, farming on the same land. And so it grows it but it also brings in new life and diversity and fresh ideas and things that different perspectives that if you are interior designer, and you learn it a certain way in school or otherwise, that you may not even have innovated because you weren't in an opportunity to see something different. I love that. Because one of the things that I've learned as I built my ml interiors group interior design firm is trying to pull from other industries, and a lot of it. Maybe it wasn't completely intentional, but it was ignorance as I started my company, like, I don't know how to do this. How are they doing it over there? It's not interior design, but it's
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just coming up with them. Look at that I was innovative. But it didn't love the fact that you're not like you said,
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farming the same field. So when she said harvesting the same, yeah. and over again, because it's there's not much growth there. Well, and how many times do we go to conference and we hear from other interior designers that say cash? You know, my competitors, they just don't know what they're doing. They don't know, you know, the same stuff that I know. And how do they get the jobs? And I don't you know, we have these conversations. Well, why would you want to hire one of their people, then?
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That's so true. Yet we go and we're like, oh, we have to have industry experience. Now. I get it. If you're a lead designer? Yeah, you need the education. You need the licensing, like those are qualifications. But if you're hiring a junior designer or procurement manager or whatever that is that doesn't need that license. And that knowledge and you can teach that then pull from a different industry. Yeah. Now that you mentioned, we're really inbred.
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Right? Like cousins.
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I live in Texas. I can say that. Do not send me any hate mail, please.
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It's a joke. It's
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To jump.
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So what is your favorite aspect of the work that you do? Oh, it seems. So
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it all ties together so well. But there's, like unique silos of each service. Yeah, I really love the problem solving, I look at everything as a puzzle. And I used to when I first started the business, I consider it order taking, I used to take orders in. This is my problem, you know, and I equate it to self diagnosing. And here I was this doctor, allowing my patients to self diagnose. And we would run into these problems, where they're like, Well, I think I have a problem in sales, and therefore, you know, I need a better sales team or sale system. And so we go down this rabbit hole, and then I find that their project management or instead installation side is what's holding them back from selling more, or, you know, vice versa. And so having these conversations of, hey, yeah, what you think is the problem is actually the symptom. And we need to look over here in your business, that was something that was kind of backwards in how we started. So we flipped the switch on that. And when you work with us, yes, you might want to go and hire, but I'm not going to assume that that's the solution right away, we're gonna have a conversation. And I'll recommend actually sounds as though your processes are not white, streamlined in order to bring in the right people. It's not the people. That's the problem. It's the process. That's the problem. So I love the solution building of that, that problem solving of identifying what's the actual problem in your business that's going to turn them, you know, that makes my heart go pitter patter? Because, is it just that problem solving, and it's the light bulb? Because back in the day before I started this business, I was actually recruiting, I placed accounting and financial permitting, stick accounting, you say it's like they call you and they place an order? Well, for an accountant. Yeah, you can totally do that. You know, is it a financial analyst? Is it a controller? It's like, it's the same thing. Yeah. But in our small businesses, and in this industry, it's not black and white. You can't bring in an AP clerk, you know, just specific. It's easy peasy. So I'm getting to the root of it. And, and I, this is great timing, because I was going to ask is like, do you help?
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Do you help businesses identify what they need to hire? And you just answered that? Yeah, absolutely. Sometimes? Well, and a lot of times it's compensation and benefits. You know, that's one of the first questions I'll ask what are you going to pay the person? And a lot of times, it's like, I don't know, what do you think I should pay them? And so we do a market analysis, we figure out what's competitive, we figure out what's feasible profitability wise in the business, and make it fair for all parties. But yeah, it's it's a holistic approach to every aspect. And I really think that's from a people operations standpoint, that's how you have to approach it, because people are so pumped Technicolor in there's no like black and white with people. Yeah, absolutely. And in this industry, is sometimes they have to they have to do wear two hats. Yes. Have the ability to just be able to bend into whatever will, actually but it makes so much sense that that's how they're gonna stay is because they're in the right position. Yeah, exactly. So your services are recruiting, training and process creation, correct? Yeah. Those Those are great to help people move their businesses forward. They say that like a question, it's more like a statement.
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Yeah. Because is, as a CEO, and I've got my own selfish reasons for asking and, you know, coincidental timing.
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We won't have a conversation off camera here.
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But just being able to get the right people and Run quickly. It's like being it's having the right team. Right. One of my favorite things, I was on site with a client yesterday and they were asking me what's what's my favorite thing about the structuring the the process side of it, and I love restructures I absolutely love when I can look at the business as a whole what the goals are, the business owner wants to accomplish. You know, I call them the visionaries. They got all these great ideas, but they don't know how to implement it. They don't know how to integrate it. So we're there integrators. And so my favorite part is looking that you know, the people as an equation looking at processes that equation and once we start to identify the process, figuring out the right people to put in the right spot so that it actually moves forward. And that moving forward is
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is more profitable, you know? speedier, more bandwidth? You know, those are the types of things. Yeah. And just like, the passion that you can remain the can remain for your job. Because as small business owners, you know, whether you guys have, if you're a solopreneur, you're young need some help going forward. Or if you are, you know, a multimillion dollar business,
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it's easy to get burned out. Yes. When you are trying to plug some of the holes that are not filled properly, it's exhausting. Yeah. Well, and you've got to keep everyone else's plates fed, you know, you got your bellies fed, is exhausting to keep selling and doing all the rest of the things and we kind of, we do it for them. Like, that was one thing that when I was working, like I love working with Coach, I work with several of them still. But there's a very big difference between a coach and a consultant. And, you know, we're consultants, we, we do a thing. So, you know, we do it for you, we create the procedure for you, we find the person for you, we train the person for you, instead of let's talk about the theory. And then oh, yeah, add that to your million things that you have to do already. Yeah. And then you're just gonna hire the first person who can warm, warm glass.
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You're gonna pull awesome. And you're back on the hamster wheel.
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It's so true. So true. So you been doing this for a while? Yeah, behind the design have been open for five years, full time. And, you know, going back to the part time conferences and clients reaching out, I started consulting in 2012.
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And you've been with your family business forever. How do you continue to stay motivated? While you're in the same industry? Yes, yeah. I was talking to a girl yesterday, she has been in the business for like, 21 years. It's just like, I don't know if I want to do this. That's exhausting. Yeah. I am always fueled by others. And so I'm very much a collaborator with my team, and goal setting every quarter and monthly meetings and all that. But it's also the greater industry, it's going to high point and going to Luann live and exciting windows and all those groups, because someone could have a slice of genius. And yeah, I know, I'm consultant, but you and I are collaborating. And I'm like, oh, yeah, that's, that's a great idea. I should be doing something like that. And so you don't get that when you're in your silo, you don't even get that when you're talking to your own team sometimes, and you have to level up, you have to get out of your own bubble. Yes, and peer to peer.
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So what do you Um, okay, so you were talking about your team? What? What would you say? Is one of the most important things for keeping a team aligned with your values? Like? Or, or, or maybe not just your team aligned with your company values? But how do you train your clients? How to keep their team aligned with their company's values?
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What's the what's the most what's the most important for keeping teams aligned? So I think it's twofold. One is on the core values side, huge believer and having strong core values, that is your deal breakers. You know, I, when I do a core values exercise, we usually talk about forget clients. This is not about the clients, it's not about marketing, this is not something you're going to put on your presentation folders when you go out. Sure, maybe, but that's not the core. That's what we're doing. I want to know, when you pass, what are your kids going to remember you by? What do you wish people are saying about you, because that at your core, is what is going to drive every decision. And so for me behind the design, it's engage, educate, and evolve. I have to engage with people, I have to go out and see them and be in person, like I come on site to companies because I have to meet the employees. I can't just work with the business owner, and they give me half the story. Like, I'm gonna see with my eyeballs that no, you're actually disorganized. When you're looking at you know, the pretty little background, you had stacks of paper right next to you. So we got to fix that. So it's engaging on another level that's truly you know, a deep heart to heart like people invite me to their weddings, and you know, it's family. And then you've got educate and that paving the path behind me is that that's what I'm doing every day is educating others, and then evolving. If they're not making a change, and they're stagnant. You know, if they're not evolving and taking the things that we're doing,
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and I can't work with that person. I mean, I have a hard time with someone that just is stuck in their way. So I'm like, Okay, fine, then I'm moving on. One of us has to change
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And I'm going to do it for us doing what you've been doing and keep getting what you've been getting. Right? So those core values, you know, when I have a team, that's what I'm interviewing on, you know, how do you engage with people? Do you like to pick up the phone? And you know, have a conversation with them? Or do you want to just be in texts and emails every day, if that's the case, then you're not part of my circle. So it's using that as the guiding light. But then once that's the foundation, then it is the light of shining. And that to me is your goals. I worked with a company once that the owners never shared what the goals of the company were. So they'd have these leadership meetings, and they'd say, we want to sell 6 million in the air. And then they would operate, but they, they would come out of these meetings going don't tell anyone literally don't tell anyone don't tell them, it's gonna be a $6 million goal. Because if the company hears that it's 6 million, then the employees are gonna be like, Well, why are why are you paying me more? Why don't you pay me a million dollars, and it's like, well, give your employees a little bit more credit than that they're not dumb, they're business people are assholes like that, then they don't need to be part of the business.
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And it's funny, so many businesses I work with. They have all these goals. They're entrepreneurial. They're you know, they've got all these ideas, and then none of that gets communicated to the rest of their team. But you can't get buy in from the team. You can't get someone to be truly loyal to you. If they don't know what they're being loyal to. Or where they're going. Like you're all rowing in different directions. The boats just gonna go in circles. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
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That's so do you teach? Is that part of your service? Like, do you let's say I hired Jeff. And I was like, Okay, I need to I mean, I need help. Yeah. Do you say what are your core values? In order for you to? Does it help you to find the right people? Yes, exactly. So
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we're gonna do them together. Right? Well, and that's just it. It's kind of like, red light green light in a way. So I've got a process and process person, you know, first 30 days, the red light green light is okay. Do you have a mission vision and core values? Oh, no. Okay, we're gonna stop red light, do it together, and then green light, we're gonna go. If you have that, then great. We're gonna be extra productive. And then we're gonna go the next thing. All right, what technology do you have, oh, you don't have QuickBooks or any financial management or you don't have a CRM to capture all of your information. Okay, stop. Let's work on that. Okay, move forward. So it's just as the do it for you part is, we'll collaborate, we'll pull it from your brain, and then we'll actually set it up for you. But I have to have it in order to get to the goals. Yeah, because if you don't know who you're hiring, you're just gonna do a shotgun effect. And it would be just as
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just doing their own hiring. It's not as effective. Yeah, exactly. Oh, that's currently Where were you like 15 years ago?
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Yesterday.
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So
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when do you think about it? So I want to keep talking about your business as well. But I want to ask because I always get so curious about other entrepreneurs.
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Like when do you
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find time for your business strategy. Do you sit down on a regular basis and come up with your business's directions, directives, goals, things along that line? Yeah. So I have twice a year, a very big sit down with myself in where I go through the strategy of the business, which I would consider departments to kind of categorize sales versus marketing, finance, install operation, you know, whatever the business is. And so
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it's a couple day process. And what I'm doing is I'm looking through all of my ideas from the year, I have a folder that I have, I have a folder and a task list of just random ideas. So I don't have that shiny object syndrome, which I used to have.
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And I just throw it into the folder, so I can put it on paper, and I can feel like, Oh, I did something about it. And then at the six month mark, I look back at all those ideas, and I reassess any of those worth doing in the next six months? And where am I at currently, and you know, kind of re analyze. So that's my personal side. And then once I have those two meetings with myself, then I go to the team. And we have quarterly meetings, as a team to talk about the company goals, what we're initiating, and then we have monthly meetings to one on one, talk about what they're personally doing towards that goal. So by the end of the quarter, the team wins.
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Well, how big is your team? By people?
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That's awesome. That is really awesome. Large enough to get shit done, but small enough to pivot if you need to. Exactly. Mahbub pivoting?
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Yeah. That's because a lot of that, in fact, we call it twirl.
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Oh, I like that more. I learned that from my friend, Robin. Okay. So with your company, do you have any? What's next for y'all?
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What do you what do you do in next? Yes, we're gonna be putting out some new group training sessions in the coming year.
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Developing a
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graduation program.
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That's funny. Michelle, one of the things that I personally struggle with is letting a client go
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in like, a, you're ready to fly, like kick out of the nest, go, you know.
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And so a lot of times, our clients work with us, two and a half to three years. That's the average. And so
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once it gets to that three year mark, and it's it's kind of like, okay, get going. There's almost like a heartbreak that happens. While you're like a security, I would imagine, like,
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exactly. And I, you know, and part of is like, well, am I adding enough value anymore? And there might questioning is the value there, but it's like no, look at the three years of incredible work that we've done. You're now ready, you're now ready to graduate. And so you're just at the next level. And I'll see you in a couple years when you're ready to be at the next restructuring phase. So I think for me, it's staying ahead of those conversations and giving them a graduation program so that there is still community after the three years. Oh, that's fun. So give them a cap and gown. gowning. Right. Exactly.
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Reply, okay. So what I'm hearing is that,
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like, and I kind of knew this, but there was a little light that went off is that you don't just recruit like, you don't just recruit, train and do the process for like this one
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position that you were filling. It's like you come in and you get dirty in the company. Yes. Yeah. It's kind of the only times that people ask us to recruit is when they have a big portion of their process figured out. They have a training plan, and all they need is that little piece of the right person and it just gets right into the process. But if someone comes to me and says, I want you to find someone, I'm first asking, what's your training program? What's your processes? Are they documented? What technical technology do you have? Because I'm not just a recruiter that places a person and leaves and you know, like, we're not even commissioned based. So it's not that's not what drives any of us. What drives us is the holistic, like, we want you to train with us. We want you to have process with us. You know, it's a long term thing. And if I'm hiring a person that doesn't stick with you for more than a couple of months, well then I can't holistically work with your company. It's everything else.
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is not going to matter. Well, I love Yeah. So I've said this before on the podcast, but I came into a podcast kicking and screaming, I didn't want to do it. And now I'm like, holy cow, I get to meet some of the coolest people and love. I love hearing about what you're doing and just like, like,
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how can we share this? You know, your service with so many people that need it? Yeah. Because industry is so right brained and creative, that you've got the analytical like, ability to just dive in there, take it apart and put it back together in a way that's more efficient and effective. Yeah. Right. And it's, it's practical. You know, one of the things back to like, Coach consultant thing, I love coaches, they are incredibly important to get your mind straight. And the one thing that I struggled with as a practical like how to is okay, I get the theory, but how do you do that?
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What are the steps show me the clicks on the screen that I have to click in order to do that. So that to me was the missing link. And that's why, you know, we opened behind the design to fill that. That hole. Yeah, so much more. So much more, huh? Very cool. Yeah, I'm a little bit speechless. So, okay, so let me ask you, a simple one. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? So I've always said I was an introvert, because I really get fueled in silence. I love like a long car ride. And it just gets my whole brain to do the puzzle.
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But I can't imagine a world where I'm not with people. And you know, as much as I want to say that I'm introvert, I'm definitely an extrovert.
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I definitely need to talk my ideas out loud. Sometimes I'm actually talking to myself in the car. And so once I embraced that, I was like, All right, I don't know why I'm kicking and screaming against this. Like, I like people. I'm an extrovert spine.
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So when you have that meeting with yourself, you are talking back and forth. Yes.
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Very intelligent conversation.
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So, okay, again, selfishly asking, as an entrepreneur, and entrepreneur, is like, Who do you need to be in order to lead your company at the level that you do?
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I think I need to really be
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supportive to people. And in the way of that saying, like walking in a person's shoes. My grandpa once told me,
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you should never place blame until you place blame on yourself first. And if you ever have this gut reaction of they did something wrong, or they misheard me, or, you know, misunderstood me, what did you do to make that happen? And in a lot of ways, you'll find the solution was actually you. And what I know is, sometimes when you're most Rayji, and you're super, super upset about something, it's something that you do yourself, it's something that is an Achilles heel of yours, or a blind spot that you didn't even know and you're raging about it, but it's just a reflection in the mirror. And so the more you can have a habit to look back at yourself without self sabotage or self defeat or any of those negative mindset. I'm a very positive, hopeful, optimistic person, so I can get through those things. But it is being real with yourself when you're working with a team and not placing blame where you should maybe look at yourself first.
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I think that's such a wise statement from your grandfather. And it's, I think, for the audience listening, think about that the people that annoy you the most.
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What they do is probably something that is a part of your own personality trait. I can think of one person specifically back in, gosh, the 90s. But I was managing since the 90s 2000s. I don't know they all run together after a while you get this old as like, it's all one big blur. And I just remember that there were some things that really annoyed me and then I went to a Tony Robbins event. And he said something along that line. Like if there's something in somebody that annoys the heck out of you, it's probably because it's a similar characteristic or trait that you have and I'm like, Oh shit.
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Oh, no.
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She has made me kind of funny when you Yeah, it's even more empathy and devastating when you recognize it in the moment. Like when you're super raging red faced and then you have that moment of like, clarity
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Oh, no,
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I totally do that all the time. And I should shut my mouth right now. I think people have that level of awareness, you know, we'd be a lot further in
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the politics in Washington to be able to do that.
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That's a whole other podcast, and
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we're not gonna alienate everybody.
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So,
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so what piece of advice would you give to your 20 year old self? Today, if you could go back and meet her?
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Yeah, I am.
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I got this advice, late 20s that I wish I got early 26 or even earlier,
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came from an acting teacher, it's an actor went to school for acting, and then shifted to directing. And the acting teacher told me there's going to be two types of actors that get business in this world, and it's those that immediately come out of college and they, they hit the big time, they're celebrities, they get the big deal, they moved to LA, you know, Broadway and, and they're real famous, but that peters out, and they're gonna be like the child star.
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And there's ones that over 40 Make it big, and they have the rest of their career to be big. And if you think about it with like, Harrison Ford, and Morgan Freeman, and you know, these really famous actors that have this long career that you feel like they've been there forever, they hit it big after 40. And I heard that when I when I was like, I was 30 when I heard it, and I was like, Well, I'm after 40 person, clearly, because it hasn't happened the last 110 years. So I guess I'll be waiting for my time when that guy. Um, but having that to hear that as an early 20 year old when you when I was an acting and getting nose all the time, could have put more perspective earlier on to say, this is just what I have to do to get to where I need to be because I am so goal driven like that. Instead of the woe is me, like,
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I'm not a big fan of the woe is me, but I did it. So you got to go through that in life. But I wish I knew that earlier. It's a good one. That's a really good one. Um, okay, what else do I want to ask books, books, books, books, anything that you recommend reading business or personal? Yes. So one of my favorite business is traction.
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Ask you that you said something about something. And I was like, sounds like yeah, the visionary and the integrator? Yeah. Oh, in the core values. The book starts with core values. Yes, yes. Yes, that is a great book. I, I that was what I wish I read so much earlier, because I feel like that paving the road.
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I was in such a silo, in the family business that I had built all these processes and structures and core values for them and this whole thing. And when I was leaving, literally, like the week I was leaving, my grab goes, Hey, there's a school book, you know, someone just gave it to me traction, you should read it. Well, I got through it in a week. And that takes much longer normally for me. And I was like, I cannot believe I just spent the last eight years building these things when it's literally all in a book. But so definitely, from a business perspective, traction from a personal perspective, and this is more like, I'm not a fictional reader, I love nonfiction and stuff like that. I'm always reading business books, but there's a book that my grandpa gave me in college and going through my woe is me, period. And he tried since my all my sisters to say this too, since we were like, I don't know, eight. He was getting us trying to get us to read this book. And it was always okay, now Gramps, you know, roll our eyes. It's a self help, like, please. And for years, then I get to college. And he brings it up again. And I was over at his house. And he's like, listen, I know, you feel like there's not a whole lot of options for you. I know. You feel like, you know, there's
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there's no hope. So if that's the case, then what do you have to lose? Then read a book? And I'm like, Yeah, I guess so.
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Doesn't hurt. So he handed me this book again. It's called excuse me, your life is waiting. I don't know the author. But excuse me, your life is waiting. And it was this. It was this magic wand. It was really interesting because while I was sitting there reading the book,
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judging it and questioning it and going yeah, you know, I don't think this is going to work. I was working at Elizabeth Arden at the time at the the cosmetic counter and so I'd be on my break reading the book. And I'd go back to
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to the floor. And within seconds of me being back on the floor, I would make a sale. Or sometimes I had three people lined up at my counter that I was walking back to, and you know, ready to talk to them. And it was this. The whole book is about the power of positivity and the power of attraction. And when you're putting your original secret book, yeah, and it's, it's incredible, that level of like, when you think about,
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you're on the way to work, and you're, you know, rushing out the door, and you're like, Oh, my God, I have to be there. And I'm going to be late. If that is all that's on your mind, guess what? You're going to hit every red light. But if you're like, okay, it is what it is. I'm going to get there, it's going to be great. We're going to do X, Y, Z. Yeah, I'm going to be, you know, a minute late, but then you hit every green light, and you get there and you slide right in. And it's that momentum that this book talks about.
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I freaking love that I wrote it down. Because I'm a firm believer, a lot of it. A lot of our life is just the energy, that what we put out is what we attract is that. Yeah, that is so true. It's I heard a similar analogy is that
41:14
wherever you're looking is where you're gonna go. Oh, yeah, I love that.
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So like when imagine somebody who's in a, you see this car accident, and they're wrapped around the one pole or the one tree, there's like in, you know, like, half a mile. And it's because you're looking at where you don't want to go. And that's where you go
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where you want it. Yes. So, excuse me, your life is waiting.
41:44
I might be what we need to name this episode.
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I like it. I love that. Well, honey, tell our audience where they can find you. Because I'm certain that there's going to be individuals that can just capitalize on your experience your expertise, and would just love to stay connected. Yeah, absolutely. So we are on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
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Facebook, you can find behind the design, Instagram is go behind the design, and that is also our website. So go behind the design.com
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No Fun, fun, fun, fun, I'll make sure that those are in the notes. And that way the audience can reference them. And I'm going to be reading excuse me, your life is waiting.
42:31
If y'all want a business bestie I want to offer you the opportunity to be at your fingertips on a regular basis. You can actually text bestie 285578 480 to 99. And I will personally be sending you business tips, encouraging words, if updates and so forth. There's no spam. So text bestie 285578 480 to 99. Again, that will be in the show notes as well. case you're driving. Don't worry about it. I got you covered. And
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peeps choose to be great today. And every day. We'll see you next time. Thank you, Jessica for being here. Thanks, Michelle.
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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 feet. 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.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
