For more than 20 years, Pearl Collective has been helping interior design businesses to thrive and grow. While we thoroughly enjoy working with our clients, nothing gives us more satisfaction than helping them turn their dreams into realities. If you’ve been wondering what an interior design business coach could do for your business, read on to discover some of the ways our clients tell us we’ve changed their firms and their lives for the better!
Becky doubled her hourly rate
One of the first things Gail told Becky Charton, president of Table Setters, Inc. in North Little Rock, Arkansas, when she looked over her firm’s financials was “You’ve got to double your rates.” No way, thought Becky. How can I go back to my long-term clients, the ones who keep coming back to me, and tell them that I’m doubling my rates, just like that? But Gail convinced her of her value to her clients and helped her work out a plan for implementing the change.
Becky was surprised at how little resistance she met with. “It had nothing to do with my new rate. And it was really an ‘aha’ moment in my whole career of understanding worth.” Since then Gail has helped her through various growth spurts in her business and in other matters. “It is like hiring a high-end consultant that is with me every day.”
LeeAnn built a team and flourished
When LeeAnn Baker, owner and principal designer, LeeAnn Baker Interiors, Ltd. in Seattle, Washington, met with Gail to examine why her business was going well but her income was going down, the last thing on her mind was hiring more staff. “I always thought it would just be me, an assistant designer, and a bookkeeper,” she says. But she realized that wasn’t working for her anymore. Gail was able to show her that by trying to do everything herself, she was limiting the growth of her business.
LeeAnn’s firm now employs three interior designers, an assistant designer, business manager, and an office administrator. “The biggest thing is learning how to delegate and learning that having other people be in charge of other things is a good thing.”
Lori expanded into another side of design
Having operated a successful commercial design business for many years, Lori McRae, principal and interior designer, Frederick + McRae, Cayman Islands, wanted to expand into residential design as well. Gail encouraged and inspired her to pursue her dream and worked with her to transform her vision into a viable part of her business. “Gail has given me ways to put things in place that are allowing me to lead my team of amazing and creative individuals who share my vision for our company, while also strategizing about what comes next,” says Lori.
Along the way, Gail also helped Lori to realize that she has a good head for business. She now enjoys working on her company as much as working in her company. Within the first four years of coaching with Gail, Lori saw her firm’s revenue increase by 75 percent.
Kim mastered her financials and boosted her revenue
Like many creatives, Kim Raymond, owner and principal architect, Kim Raymond Architects & Interiors in Aspen, Colorado, believed she wouldn’t understand her business’s financials because creative’s “minds don’t work like that.” Through her sessions with Gail, she came to realize that running a business is based on the financials and that she needed to understand them, like it or not. When she overcame her limiting beliefs and took the plunge, she was surprised to find that understanding the business side of her business was “incredibly easy.”
Now Kim not only regularly tracks her financials, but also uses them as a tool for project management, planning, hiring and marketing. The results speak for themselves. In the first four years of working with Gail, her firm’s revenue increased 187 percent over baseline and net profits increased 161 percent over baseline.
Hiring an interior design business coach may seem like an additional expense, but as these designers discovered, it’s truly an investment that will pay dividends in the form of higher revenues, profits and growth for years to come.
Take a look at our other Success Stories for more examples of how Pearl Collective improves and supports businesses just like yours.