# 101 | Permission to Pivot: Redefining Success on Your Own Terms

Welcome to the Designers Oasis podcast. I'm your host, Kate Bendewald. If you're tired of one-size-fits-all all advice to running your interior design business, you're in the right place. Join me each week as we dive into topics to help you run a thriving interior design business. Without the hustle. We'll talk about the business of design, but also mindset and mental health because I know when you thrive, so will your life and business. It wasn't that long ago that I stepped away from my corporate interior design job to build my own design business so that I could realize my own creative dreams, have more time with the people I love, and serve my clients at the highest level, while making more money than I ever could have working for someone else. It wasn't always easy, and I made my share of mistakes along the way. Fast forward to today. And I've learned a thing or two. Since then I've built multiple six-figure interior design businesses on authentic word-of-mouth referrals with many repeat clients. And I want to share it all with you the ambitious, inspired, and I get it occasionally overwhelmed interior designer who shares this dream of transforming lives through the art of interior design, You can do this. Thank you for letting me spend part of this day with you. Let's get to it.

It might not even be like changing your definition of success, but just like realizing it wasn't the, like, how necessarily, but like for me, like supporting people was always the goal. And so, but you know, when I thought it was a doctor and then I thought it was, you know, moving up in education, but, but that was just how to do the same thing as I'm doing now, and I, I don't know, it makes me think about like, mm-hmm.

Sometimes we think one thing is the goal, but as we kind of start moving through it is it shifts and pivots and there's. Changes.

Welcome to the Designer's Oasis Podcast, a space for interior designers who are ready to define success on their own terms, whether that means running a firm at scale, or building a boutique business that fits your life. I'm Kate Van Dewald, interior designer, CEO and Mom, and I'm joined by my co-host and designer's, Oasis, community manager.

Becca Meyer. Together, we are here to help you redefine success in a way that actually aligns with your values and your skillset. If you are ready to stop square peg round, holding yourself into someone else's version of success, you are in the right place. And because we know you're more than just one thing, we talk about it all.

Interior design, business, parenting, mental health, wellness and mindset. All the behind the scenes realities of building a business that supports your life, not the other way around. No formulas, no one size fits all advice. Just honest conversations, thoughtful perspective shifts and practical guidance to help you build your business that feels sustainable and truly yours.

Thanks for being here.

Welcome back to the Designer's Oasis Podcast. I'm your host, Kate. Be Dewald now, joined by my good friend and the designer's Oasis, community manager, Mrs. Rebecca. Is is your real Rebecca? It's Rebecca. I knew it. Rebecca Meyer. Ms. Becca Meyer. Hi. Welcome Becca. Hi. Thanks for having me. Oh my gosh. If it weren't for you that we wouldn't be here.

Okay. So we've got a little backstory to share. Yes. About you and. Designers, Oasis and Kate, the Dewal interior design. Yes. And getting our audience kind of caught up. Yes. And up to speed with what's been going on in the last couple of years. You have a visitor, I know. I've got a puppy dog down here.

They've got a puppy dog visitor. Yes. You're the podcast is back. The podcast back ish. So we've decided, oh my gosh, my dog is trying to get on her lap. Come here, get over here. You can get up here with me. She doesn't want you. Come on, let's go. So we took a break from the podcast for, for about a year because I decided that I wanted to go back to doing design work.

And we talked about how I, I, you know, just capacity wise, couldn't. Fit everything in Yeah. At once. And so something had to go, something had to take a break. And, uh, it was the podcast for a little while and it's been good. It's allowed me to, uh, rebuild the design business back. So we're gonna talk a bit more about that.

Yeah. Um, it's given me the opportunity to redesign designers Oasis in a way that I feel more supported so that we can now try to. Record some podcast. Um, 'cause people really like that. Yeah. And, uh, I, I, I've missed doing it. Good. Well, I'm glad to be back. Yeah. I, yeah. You and do you wanna tell the story of how we met?

Yes, I do. Yes. So basically, Becca lives in Denver with me and I, not with you. Well, yeah. I live in Denver. We both live in Denver. And I was with my girlfriend Brooke, uh, joining her Teeball, and yeah, you were there. My kiddo played tee-ball with Brooks kiddo. Yeah. Yep. And I overheard you say something about wanting to just take over the spreadsheets.

As long as you have a spreadsheet, you're good. You can, and I, I th I, I don't even know the context of what you're talking about, but I basically attacked her and was like, Hey, you, who are you? What do you come, come work for me. You like spreadsheets? Come work for me. And so originally I talked to you about coming to work for me for the design business.

Yeah. KBID. But then after talking to you more, learning your background, which I want you to share more about what you do and your history and and why it was such a good fit, I realized, oh my God, you would be such an amazing asset to designers Oasis. Yes. And the designers Oasis community. Yes. So after tackling you on the softball field, I wrinkled you into.

My little world and here we are. So tell, I wanna, I want you to tell our audience a little bit about your background. Yeah. Uh, what you've done in, in your past career and, and so on. And, uh, we'll just go from there. Okay. Sounds good. Well, I'm glad. To be here. This is not the world that I ever thought I would be in, which aligns so well to our topic of, of pivoting.

But yeah, I, um, I was a chemistry teacher with Teach for America. She's smart, and I taught for six years and, and then I was a. Assistant principal and a principal. And I, uh, love the work of education and I have, but I have two kiddos and decided a few years ago to step back from that work. And I love.

Coaching people. I love just trying new things, helping people. I, I don't mind being in the background of things, which was not what I was doing as a principal. So I'm just kind of trying lots of things now. It's been really fun to work with designers. Again, I prefer spreadsheets sometimes to like aesthetics, and so I'm learning a lot.

Sorry. But, um, but yeah, just love getting to know different people at different stages in their careers. And, um, it's just, it's funny how like lots of things are similar too. To the work that I did as a principal, you know, um, when you, when you're coaching somebody in different roles, it it's a, it's a lot of the same things.

So anyway, so then, so Kate found me and I said, yeah, I've got some time. And, and I joined Designers Oasis. It's been really fun. And, uh, and then she asked me if I do the podcast. She said, I'll do the podcast again if you do it with me. So here we are. I am, I'm not a designer. But you wanted to kind of pivot a little bit on what you spent time on in the podcast.

And so we're, we're gonna Yeah. Talk about some different things now that, that we're back, well, we're gonna be talking about today is pivoting. Yes. Right. Permission to pivot. One of the things we've always talked about in designers, Oasis is. Thematically, you'll hear me say like, I don't believe in a one size fits all approach to your business, which is really hoping to give designers permission to build their business based on the things that are meaningful to them and what lights them up.

And I realized that with the, just in terms of the podcast, I had become. Sort of bored by the topics and I was just like, oh, I feel like I've talked about every possible topic in interior design business. I'm a really curious person and I have so many things that I find interesting and I just, and I also noted like on the brief, which is our weekly email newsletter that we send out, people read the brief, but one of the things that they click on the most are is like articles about parenting or like this podcast episode I heard overheard on mindset or.

Whatever else. And it's like, well, our audience are dynamic people too. And so I was like, well, I would be more interested in bringing back the podcast if we could talk about all the things I wanna talk about. I don't know, parenting, perimenopause, wellness, mental health. Yeah. Entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship, yeah. What else? And then you have this amazing background in education and coaching and, oh, that's what I wanted to come back to is, you know, when I first. Met you and I starting to learn your skillset. Originally, I was hoping that you could help with just helping us manage the membership, right?

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. We've got our, uh, designers Oasis membership. If you're interested, you can learn more designers oasis.com/join because I wasn't, you know, I, I can't do all of the things that we need to do on a daily basis to get that. To keep that running. But then I started to realize that your background in coaching and managing people is a real asset to the designers and the membership, and you've already been able to help support them.

And again, I don't. You don't need to have a design background mm-hmm. To necessarily understand how to help somebody get out of a rut when they can't see the forest for the trees. Right. Yeah. And so I've enjoyed being able to work with you in that way, but also like you kind of coach me at times. And so, you know, there's this, I.

I see you as like, I wanna talk about like manifesting money and manifesting in general, living in alignment with your values, uh, all of these other things and you really like spreadsheets and data and so I thought, well. Bringing us together back on the podcast would be an opportunity for us to talk about some of these same things, but looking at it from kind of a different angle.

A good counter voice counterpart. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think so. Let's talk about one of the things that, about pivoting, right? You made a major life pivot. Yes, I did. By leaving your, the security of your nine to five, you know, and Yeah. All of that. What decisions did you have to make for yourself and within, internally within your family to be able to make a pivot like that?

I mean, I'm sure that there were financial decisions, but aside from that, yeah. You know, so much of our identity is wrapped up in what we do. And so how did you navigate those questions before you made that ultimate move to. Go this new direction? Well, I think it's kind, it's ongoing. I would say. I don't think it's over.

I certainly still have moments where I'll be like. At a party or something, somebody ask me what I do and I'll say like, well, used to be a principal, you know? Mm-hmm. So I think it's an ongoing kind of thinking through your identity, but, but I think, you know, I, I just had to weigh. What things were important to me and whether or not I was valuing those things in, in the current work.

And, and I, I really did love being in education, um, and loved being a teacher. I loved being a principal, but it is, it does consume your, your life a little bit and having kids just shifted and I think, you know, things happen in seasons. I still do some work in schools, which is kind of, does fill my cup, but I think it wa it, it is a constant reminder that, um.

I'm not what my job is and I am, you know, and there's lots of different ways that I can fill that. I don't know, actually, we didn't talk about this, but I don't know if you know this, but like, so I majored in biochemistry and I was gonna, I took the, I'M cats, I was gonna be a doctor. Mm-hmm. My goal was never to be a teacher or a doc.

It was just like. Wanting to support people where they were and wanting to just like help make people's lives better than, or like help them find what is well, that's evident from the first time I met you, that you are driven by mission and doing work that feels like it gives back and that it's meaningful.

And since you've been able to pivot, you have. I think in some ways been able to find other ways to bring your, your, your, your drive, your brains, your motivation, all of that, and your interest in helping others and putting it into, to new, putting it to use in new ways that you didn't really see before.

And I, and I, I like that to me, that shares that, that is part of your value system. Is supporting others or giving back, I don't know. Does that feel true? Yeah. Yeah. Certainly. It, it, you know, when I was younger it felt like it didn't matter what it was that I was doing, if I could kind of be with people.

Mm-hmm. And, and be supporting people that, you know, I didn't, when I was a teacher, I didn't wanna be a principal. It just kind of happened. It was like people would be like, well you're, you're kind of good at this. Like, why don't you try this other thing? And, and I'm like, as long as I could be supporting people so that they can support well in that case, the children and, and make sure that they got what they needed.

But, you know, I think about this now in the designers Oasis work, a lot of our designers in. The membership. They've also ma like, made a pivot. And so it's been a good, like, connection point too. Yeah. For me. 'cause a lot of people, for a lot of designers, it's a second career. Not all of them. That I would say 90% of our members, this is a second career for them.

Yeah. And so it's a. So I think people, you know, are feeling like they're starting over. But I, I think that it's, it's not that exactly. It's, it's like pulling in different experiences that you've had and making, making the connection. So like, sometimes pivoting feels like scarier than has to be. Sometimes you just have to take a leap.

Like, you asked me earlier if I, you know, what decisions that I had to make, like I, some decisions were about like family, things like that. And some of it was just at some point you just have to try it. Mm-hmm. And see if it's gonna work. You know? I'm glad you said that 'cause I wanted to come back to that.

I, I think it's an important distinction and I didn't wanna gloss over it, but Yeah. I asked you, I was like, what decisions did you have to make? And you said, well, we're still kind of figuring some of that out. Mm-hmm. What I love about that is that you gave yourself permission to take the next right step.

Yeah. Without having it all figured out. Yeah. Right. Like, well, maybe I won't like it. I can always go back. Yeah. I could always choose to do things differently. Yeah. I remember, I don't know, five years ago or so at this point, um, almost six, when I first started Designers Oasis, I realized that. You know, I wasn't gonna be able to have the capacity to do the size of projects that I was doing before.

And people kept asking me, are you gonna miss design? And I was like, yeah, probably I will. And I tried to do both for a little while and then I realized, Hmm, I just wanna give designers voices my full attention. And so I did that for a while and I wasn't taking any design work. There were aspects of that season that I really liked, but ultimately decided I, I really enjoyed and needed and craved the.

Creativity that comes with design. And so after year two of doing. Designers are racist exclusively. Mm-hmm. I, you know, worked with my coach and said, you know, I need to figure out how to make this work so that I could do both without burning out. 'cause burnout has been a common theme in my life. Yeah.

That pushes me to make certain decisions, but I don't wanna, I don't, I don't want to make this kinda life decisions Right. From a place of burnout. It's like when you're running from something versus to something. Oh, yeah. That's a really good way of saying it. Yeah. And I, I, uh, I, I enjoy designer's oasis, especially the, the monthly Yeah.

Office hours that we do is, is one of my favorite days of the month. And I, and I certainly didn't wanna let go of that. I enjoy the podcast and so I've had to figure out a way to pivot from, you know, doing one exclusively to being able to make, yeah, both work. And so. There've been some other pivots too, thinking about the work itself, the kind of interior design work that I have done.

Yeah, I think there was a lot of years where I was, and I think a lot of designers will resonate with this, to be honest. There were a lot of years where when I started to think about, okay, what are my three and five year goals, 10 year goals? And baked into that somewhere was this like vision of, you know, getting published, having like, you know, book or whatever having made a certain amount of money or whatever.

And while I haven't had a book published, I did meet those revenue goals that I originally set out for myself, but I ultimately realized that. That didn't matter because the work that it took to get there was kind of a pain in the ass. Hmm. It was brutal. It wasn't the actual kind of work that I wanted to be doing or wanted to be known for.

Yeah. And so I had to get quiet with myself and ask myself to come up with a new definition of success that met me where I am today versus where I was. However many number of years ago when I first started to think about this. And so, um, for listeners who've been listening for a while, you may recall one of our last episodes that we recor that I recorded before taking a break from the podcast was a decision to go alcohol free.

Mm-hmm. For, and at that point it had been a year. Now I'm going on three years, which is kind of wild. That's great. It's been two years and it was really during that time that I allowed myself to get quiet and think about, okay. I know I wanna do design work. I have been very lucky to attract some, have some of the most amazing clients, like really, really truly beautiful people.

Ran into some of them this weekend, uh, on the street. Had a nice hug and chat. It just fills my heart. Like I have been so fortunate to work with some really amazing people. So I want to keep that alive. I also used to think that I wanted to do these really big, large scale new construction projects. Hmm.

And when I got quiet with myself, as I was saying, okay, I know I wanna pivot back to design, but I don't think that the goals that I had before, the same kind of goals that I want today. A couple of things came up for me in that quiet space was number one, I wanna keep attracting the kind of people that I'm attracting.

Yeah. 'cause they're the kind of clients that you work with is so important. Mm-hmm. You know, these people do not have bottomless bank accounts, but they do have heart and integrity and the meaning of home is a lot to them. And they really value and cherish my ability to help them shape that. So I that.

That was something that I wanted to stick with. I also realized that I didn't necessarily need or want massive projects. Hmm. I kind of like these projects that are not, you know, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna take a project with just one room. Yeah. But, and maybe unless it's a kitchen, but that usually even doesn't turn out to be just one space ever.

Um, but that I was okay with a smaller scale project as long as it was. Uh, you know, I want, I wanna touch a space floor to ceiling. Like I'm not interested in doing a little bit here, a little bit there. It has to be a complete overhaul of a space and really give it a complete new life. Hmm. And I wanna do, I love designing with custom.

Fabrics and mm-hmm. Upholstery and wallpaper and paint and color and art, and really work with clients who appreciate and value those things. Yeah. They're willing to spend a, a pretty penny on a beautiful piece of upholstery because it's special and it's unique and not every client wants to do that, that wants a designer.

And so really starting to think about choosing those projects that have this. Real artistic flavor to them that is satisfying for me, and that became one of my metrics for success.

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Well, I love that you took some time to like step back. I, I am curious. I, it makes me think though, like sometimes the, sometimes the goal changes just like different seasons of life. Like Uhhuh, I, I wonder like if in five years you might, you know, really want again to do the, the big projects or Uhhuh Yes.

You know, and I think it's, um, such a like. Testament to how you think about your business, that you are willing to step back and think about what it is that you really want. Mm-hmm. Because the more that you're kind of lit up about that, the better you're gonna do, the more clients you're gonna attract.

Mm-hmm. And um, and so I just think. You know, having the opportunity or forcing yourself a little bit mm-hmm. To step back and like rethink. Mm-hmm. And I don't even know it, it might not even what, I know this is going off script a little, but it might not even be script we, the script off outline. Um, but like, it might not even be like changing your definition of success, but just like realizing.

It wasn't the like, how necessarily, but like, I don't know, like for me, like supporting people was always the goal. And so, but you know, when I thought it was a doctor and then I thought it was, you know, moving up in education, but, but that was just how to do the same thing as I'm doing now, and I, I don't know, it makes me think about like mm-hmm.

Sometimes we think one thing is the goal, but as we kind of start moving through mm-hmm. Is it shifts and pivots and there's changes and mm-hmm. Yeah. You really dialed that in. Well, the, the seasonality piece of what we do is something I think that we might underestimate the value of. You know, anytime I come off of a like major kitchen renovation.

I'm craving a project where it's like, let's get our fingers. Yes. And some fabrics and some furnishings. Yes. And some, you know, all the lighting, all you know, all the art. Uh, and then maybe I'll do that for a little bit and then I'm like, oh, I want a big old kitchen project next. Right. Yeah. I also know that.

You know, my kids are 10 and almost 13. They're not gonna be around forever. Summers are sort of sacred and I right now, so I designer for day as a service that historically I've offered and it's, it's typically been a gateway service that often leads to full service projects. Um, I don't take every designer for a day project that comes my way, but I'm in a current season where I have.

Too many full service projects going on to be able to take on any designer for day projects. So what I'm doing is I am building a wait list of people who are interested in this summer when my kids are out of school, and I need to slow down on these. You know, the, the full service projects Yeah. Re require a lot.

And so the goal is for the summer season to have some designer for a day projects lined up to sort of fill in while we pull back a little bit on some of the full service work. So, yeah, not just seasonality of life, but seasonality of your year. Um, and I think that that was really intentional to create business and services that.

Allowed me to have that flexibility during, you know, this season while my kids are Yeah. Relatively young. Yeah. They're getting more independent, so yeah. Seasonality. Yeah. So I would just say to somebody listening that if you are in a place where you feel maybe you're feeling overworked or you're, you know, just feeling sort of like you're teetering the burnout.

Mm-hmm. Um, if you feel like you're under inspired, like you're not, you're not creatively inspired by the project work that you're doing, or that maybe you're attracting people or working with people that you just are not, not in alignment with. Mm-hmm. Um. It is possible that you're square peg, round hole in yourself into someone else's version of success.

Yeah. And so I think my invitation to whoever's listening is to find some quiet time and start to think about what are the things that. Maybe you're saying yes to for the wrong reasons. Maybe it's some scarcity going on. You know, any decisions made out of fear Yeah. Are not necessarily a good one. Ask me how I know.

And so, you know, maybe it's that you feel like you have to say yes to this project because it seems like it's putting you in the right direction. But you know in your heart when you met that person, like that person's. Not a good fit for me. Yeah. To be involved with long term. I mean, I, I know I don't, I don't know that you know this so much, but these are very long-term projects.

Mm-hmm. You know, often, at least six months that you're working with somebody. It's very intimate to design someone's home and their space. At least it is for us. I mean, I'm asking you questions that are really digging deep and getting to know like who you are as a person to help inform our design and it.

And so you just can't work. In my opinion, it's very important that I click with the person Yeah. That I'm working with. Yeah. So you know, if you're listening and you are, you feel like things just feel hard, things feel like they're rigid or that they're not quite clicking, I think this is a really important opportunity for you to slow down and get quiet and Yeah.

Reevaluate your values. Yeah. Right. What's important to you? What's gonna light you up? Yeah. What else? That one feels important. Well, yeah. I'm just thinking about, if I could go back a second, the, the what, how do you say it? Round peg, square hole. Square, square. Peg. Round. Round hole, square. Peg, round. Tooling yourself makes Yeah, I was telling, I was telling you earlier, like, it, it reminds me of when, you know, I was a new teacher when I was a new principal, and there's so many ways.

To manage a classroom to, you know, give homework to, and everybody wants to give their advice out of the kindness of their hearts. And I was trying so many different things that just like, were not working because it wasn't the way my brain thought. It wasn't the way, you know, and it just, it was so hard, you know, it would be like I had.

Now I have all these papers to grade and nobody told me about that part. You know, it's just like this. So thinking when I finally gave myself permission to try it, even though it could be messy, like try in my own way. And so I'm just thinking about folks who might, you know, be on the newer side too, or in a career transition, how you might kind of be looking for all the right, right ways to do things.

And like there's. There's not a right way, I think. And, and so my encouragement to people is like, is to think about what feels right for you. What, what really fits into who you are and, and how you operate, how you want your life to feel. And I think because if you, if you continue to try to make it fit.

Somebody else's way of doing things. Mm-hmm. It just will never like, really feel like it's your own. You know, I, I remember like in my third year of teaching when I was like, oh, this actually feels like my classroom now. Mm-hmm. This feels like what I'm doing. And, and that, and then it felt Right. Yeah. Yeah.

So, I don't know. You asked another, another question. I don't think I answered, but, but it, you know, just in thinking about that, like the ma Yeah. Making it fit, being authentic to who you are, you know. A hundred percent. W hearing you reminded me of, you know, I, I listened to a lot of podcasts. Yes. And I historically have been in a lot of Facebook groups with, you know, interior designers and it, it was a, there were many years where I would.

Simply latch onto something that I heard or something that I saw in these groups and all of a sudden was like, yeah, that's how I need to do it. 'cause somebody else is doing it that way. Right? And really without having a filterer to put things through. Look, I'm neuro divergent. I have a DHD I've talked about this many times.

Um, I have to be really mindful of my diet and exercise and sleep to, uh, help keep anxiety and overwhelm at bay. Stopping drinking alcohol was wildly helpful. Yeah. With, with all of that. But I've had to realize I don't love to manage people and so that's why I hired you because I didn't need to manage you.

I was like, you manage somebody, manage me. I need a boss. I'll, I manage you. Somebody find me a boss, please tell me what to do. But you know, so these ideas of growing affirm. Right. Um, the most I've had working for me full-time was four people. Mm-hmm. And I wasn't, you know, I'm people like me, but it doesn't make me a good manager of people and.

So here I'm thinking about, okay, how do I wanna grow this business? I can't take on this project because I'm not big enough mm-hmm. To, I don't have the capacity to start now. So I'm, I'm losing out on this project because I don't have a team big enough to be able to take this on in the timeline that they want.

And there was a time where I used to tell my, I would tell myself, well, you need to grow, you need to hire, you need to get an office. And getting the office piece is so hard. I mean, here we are. I've got this lovely space built out. It's built off of our garage and, and it's fine. But for so long I thought, I'm gonna have to have an office.

I'm gonna have to have a big team, or at least grow a team. I, again, and I have finally gotten to a place where I realized that's a bunch of bullshit. If I don't want to do that, I don't have to. Yeah. And. Did some math. Would you be so proud of me? You did. I did. I did it only by myself. CS full with the help of a spreadsheet.

You got this and or like, okay, what is a financial levers that I can pull that would allow me to be able to make the kind of revenue that I want, but without having a giant team? Yeah. And without. The overhead of an office. Yeah. And when it, when I finally came down to it, I realized that there are certain kinds of projects that earn more money and if we can lock in a couple of those a year Yeah.

And I can, you know, rely on my. Subcontractors that I work with, I have, I have one person that works for me full-time. I think we might be hiring one more part-time in-house and then the rest are contractors. What this has allowed me to do is to still achieve those revenue goals, but while having a home office, yeah, I, again, my kids are gonna be home all summer.

I need to be around. My kids. Were just sick for two. Weeks with strep and followed by, so flu, followed by strep. I got two little pups that need me. Like I just don't want an office outside of the house. Yeah. It's just what it comes down to. So it's like, okay, I gotta make this work because this is the lifestyle that I want.

Right. These are my values being available for my kids. You know, I, I don't need to be there beck and call, but I wanna be there for them. Yeah. When they're sick or. Whatever. It gives you a lens. Yeah. And for decision making. And so, exactly. It gave me that lens to say, well, you know, I, there are other ways to get to where I wanna be, but in doing it in a formula that works with, for me and my family and my lifestyle, my budget, where I am today, and what's meaningful.

So I guess all that to say is, that's just another example of how. I want you to give yourself permission to pivot if something's not working. Yeah. Permission. Yeah. Why? How the fuck do we always need permission to do this? Well, that's a whole nother podcast topic. Yeah. Okay. Fair. Well, 'cause the world, I mean.

Even though you, even, you can be firm in like what you've decided. You, you know, your boundaries are gonna be or whatever, and there's still messaging that comes at us from all directions mm-hmm. That are trying to convince us otherwise. And some of those are good, they help push our thinking. But, but that's why, that's why you need to give yourself permission.

Right? Yeah, I know. Yeah. I mean, like for you leaving your, you know, the security of your nine to five, that wasn't. Comfortable. But it, it, it really was about just making the decision, even though you didn't have the right, you know, a lens that could show you two or three years down, down the road. And we have to give ourself permission even when we don't know what the outcome can be.

Yeah. And give yourself, yeah. 'cause if it doesn't work out, then you just go back to what you were doing so you can go back. Yeah. Okay. Or find another way. Yeah.

It's that terrible phrase. There's more than one way to skin a cat who came up with, there's terrible i big ideas, right? Like there's no one right way to manage your classroom or to Yeah. You know, have a design business. Yes. Um, well, yeah. Okay. Let's put it, let's put a pin in this. Okay. What do we wanna leave people with?

Well, I think what, what should people be thinking about, you know, this week or. Well, do we have a cha encouragement for them or, yeah, I mean, I think one of the things that is, has been really helpful for me is once I have. Made the time to get clear on what are, what are our values? Like we have our mission, vision, and values for our business, and that is at the top of our weekly agendas.

So it's not buried away getting, dig, collecting digital gu, but it's somewhere we can see it every single week. Yeah. So we are like, okay, we need to make this tough decision. Yeah. Let's look at our core values. Are we aligned? Is this, you know, achieving this goal of what we're trying to do here and. Yeah.

To me, having that front and center is, is really important. But first you have to figure out what those values are. Yeah. So as you're thinking about pivoting mm-hmm. What are some of those values that you're grounded in? Does it check and balance against that? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Sorry, you were gonna say, well, I don't know.

I was just thinking, I was thinking about the interior designer's blueprint, which is our, our signature course is one of the very first things that we asked designers to do is to, yeah. Really get crystal clear on what are those values, because it's such a critical decision making tool. And I think that sometimes, well, I could say speak for myself, that like I've written them, it iterated on them.

But there was a season where they were fairly arbitrary and really didn't mean anything, and they really didn't drive decisions. But when I started to refine 'em and feel like I embodied them and like they really made sense to me, then it felt easier to lean into those. Yeah. And to use them as a filter.

So now they do feel meaningful and now they do feel aligned with what, you know, where I'm hoping to go in terms of helping change people's lives, helping improve the way people live and experience their homes. Mm-hmm. Um, wellness is a big part of that. And so. When those values aren't arbitrary, when they do feel aligned and meaningful, then I think that's when it becomes a really powerful tool.

Right. And so I, I've enjoyed taking designers through that process of yeah, either creating them for the first time or reevaluating and see what still feels resonant and what maybe needs to be reevaluated. Yeah, I love that it starts with that, the blueprint starts with that. 'cause I, I think that a lot of people are coming in thinking like.

I, I wanna know exactly how to price and it's in there, you know? But I think, but the whole, you know, first part really focusing on like what your values are, I just think really grounds. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I think this is probably a good, just a shameless plug to mention that we, last year I completely overhauled the Interior Designers Business Blueprint program.

The best parts of it are still there. Uh, but one of the things that I realized the original course was lacking or missing was this. Foundational piece of, well, who are you and what are your values? And really making that sort of the foundation and central part of making all of these other decisions.

Because when it comes to. What kind of services do I want to offer? Yeah. Or what kind of money do I wanna make? What kind of services do I wanna offer? It's so wild to me how closely connected those are to our values. Right. And what's important to us. And so I wanted to create a way for designers to be able to think about that.

Yeah. First, and then build everything else off of there. Reevaluate everything off of there. So we'll be sure to include more about the blueprint and how you can get on the wait list for the next time the doors are open. Awesome. So we're gonna do a few of these, right? Yes. We're not committing to bringing back the podcast indefinitely, but I said, Hey, let's do, what are we doing?

We're do six. Six part series. We're gonna do six. Yeah. Six part series. With my dear friend, Becca. We're gonna talk about all kinds of things. All kinds of things. Not, not just business, some business, some design, some lifestyle. Yeah, for sure. Okay, thanks Becca. Thanks. It'll be fun. Yeah, so fun. Thanks for bringing me, bringing me along.

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