Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! LuAnn brings you a very special conversation today, one that may hit very close to home for many of us; mental illness. Bearing that in mind, I must also say that this show was recorded months ago before the word COVID 19 was even legitimately on our radar. Even though the topic of mental illness can be sensitive, it’s important to talk about it. Whether mental illness affects us personally or affects one of our loved ones, you’re not going to want to miss this intimate talk.
LuAnn’s guest is Leah M. Meyer Perez, and Leah will be sharing how she overcame her own internal struggles while trying to run a business. She wants to share her story and bring it out in the open so that we as a community don’t have to feel embarrassed about asking for help. She encourages an environment of support and care for each other.
Leah M. Meyer Perez is the CEO/Principal Designer of Leah May Interior Design. Like so many of you, from an early age Leah was creative and had a natural talent for interiors. From her artistic flair in art class to tinkering in the garage with her Father, Leah’s path was destined for design.
Leah has earned an extensive knowledge of fabrics and furniture by working for several boutique interior firms including a custom furniture workshop and drapery workroom.
In 2014, taking a leap of faith, Leah opened her residential interior design firm and as you will learn today, Leah has had to overcome more than simply understanding marketing, bookkeeping, and pipeline building in order to be successful.
If you are listening and you are struggling with serious thoughts of anxiety, depression, hopelessness, or isolation, there is no podcast for that. Please reach out, and have a friend help you find qualified help. You deserve to be happy and fulfilled and like Leah, with true professional therapy, it IS possible.
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My Doma Studio: A Well Designed Business
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Leah’s Website
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Open Your Trade Account with ARTICLE.com Here!
Other shows mentioned to link to and tag in Social Media
Welcome to A Well-Designed Business, it’s Power Talk Friday! Peter Lang joins LuAnn on today’s show to discuss accounting that is specific to design firms. Peter is a CPA that works exclusively with interior designers, and he will be covering the nuances of the industry. He is also a co-author of LuAnn’s latest book, A Well-Designed Business: The Power Talk Friday Experts.
If you’re a business owner and concerned about how this current COVID-19 pandemic will impact your taxes, you will not want to miss this episode!
Peter Lang is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. He is the founder of The Designer CPA, a CPA firm that works exclusively with business owners in the design industry. He has worked in public accounting since graduating from Providence College in 2002. After working for several larger size firms in Boston and Rhode Island, Peter realized his true passion was to start a firm that specifically focused on designers.
Peter currently resides in Rhode Island with his wife Carmen and their identical twin boys, William and Matthew. He enjoys running and golfing outside of work.
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LuAnn’s Website
LuAnn’s Podcast - Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review!
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
Connect with Peter!
Peter’s Website
Book Mentioned:
A Well-Designed Business: The Power Talk Friday Experts by LuAnn Nigara & Friends
Thank You to These Podcast Sponsors:
Open Your Trade Account with ARTICLE.comHere!
FREE Trial! A One-Stop Shop to Keep Everything Organized!
My Doma studio: A Well Designed Business
Connect with Your Local Kirsch Distributor Now!
Sponsors You’ll Be Learning More About in the Future:
Jaipur
Monogram
Shows Mentioned:
Michele Williams - Certified Profit First Coach #180
Peter Lang previous episodes: #349, #464
Welcome to this episode of A Well-Designed Business! Gabriela Gargano joins LuAnn in this episode to caution us as entrepreneurs about being careful not to apply reasons and rationale to decisions that we are facing because we are reluctant to take the risk.
Gaby also shares some very specific strategies that she is employing as the CEO of her design firm in light of the Corona Virus, which you will likely find very smart and useful! You are going to love these ideas!
After graduating from college with degrees in Art History, Hispanic Studies, and Business Economics, Gaby spent more than a decade at Goldman Sachs, as a sales trader and relationship manager. She simultaneously grew her passion for interior design through real estate investing, renovation, and staging of her properties in Manhattan.
In 2016, she decided to leave finance and establish Grisoro Designs, a full-service interior design firm located in New York City. Gaby’s style blends clean lines with rich textures and eclectic pieces, referencing art, and vintage design. The team's process is anchored in a deep understanding of each client's design goals, functional needs, and lifestyle.
By implementing a transparent process, clear communication, and active project and budget management, they can provide a seamless experience, resulting in a beautiful and functional space that truly feels like home.
Grisoro Designs has been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Domino, and several other publications. Services offered include interior design, full-scale renovations, project management, budget management, art curation, and real estate advisory.
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LuAnn’s Website
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Connect with Gaby!
Design Firm: Grisoro Designs
Principal: Gabriela Gargano
Gaby’s Instagram
Gaby’s Website
Do YOU Need Help with Your Past, Current, or Projected Pipeline?
Michele Williams: Scarlet Thread Consulting
Kim Merlitti: KMM Consulting
Thank You to These Podcast Sponsors:
For 10% off any Kravet Wallpaper, Fabric, or Trim Enter at Checkout This Promo Code: awdb10
Connect with Your Local Kirsch Distributor Now!
Mentioned Episodes
Welcome to this episode of A Well-Designed Business, it’s Power Talk Friday! LuAnn chats with Sandra Funk about Sandra’s amazing new program for the interior design community.
Her program is called “The Interior Design Standard”. Just wait until you hear about it, you’re going to LOVE this!
Sandra Funk is the CEO and Principal Designer of House of Funk, a greater New York area design firm working wherever great clients need us.
This is interior design with a soul and a sense of place; reflecting your desires, personality, and style.
House of Funk creates thoughtful homes with an emphasis on clean lines and soulful touches, all rooted in tradition.
Sandra is an Accredited Professional for the Sustainable Furnishings Council.
Sandra’s award-winning design work has been featured in publications such as Elle Decor, House Beautiful, The Huffington Post, Apartment Therapy, Aspire Design & Home, and Luxe Interiors + Design.
With almost two decades in the interior design industry, Sandra is launching the Interior Design Standard in the spring of 2020 – a template for designers to utilize her streamlined processes and business structure to bring joy and profit to their own design business.
Show Highlights:
Resources:
LuAnn’s Website
LuAnn’s Podcast - Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review!
Purchase LuAnn’s Book!
Connect with Sandra!
Sandra Funk is a game changer for our industry. In April, she’s launching the Interior Design Standard - a digital program that covers everything you need for running an efficient and joyful business. Click here to take her FREE Demo Module to get a taste of what’s to come: Interior Design Standard
April 8th: Registration opens
Note: If designers register before April 22nd, they receive VIP access which grants them 3 group Zoom calls with Sandra.
April 22nd: VIP Access closes and general enrollment begins
May 5th: Enrollment closes at 11:59 PM
May 6th: Module 1 is released and the program begins
FREE Trial! A One-Stop Shop to Keep Everything Organized!
My Doma Studio: A Well Designed Business
Podcast Sponsor:
Open Your Trade Account with ARTICLE.com Here!
Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! LuAnn has been considering adding a Wednesday show answering straight-up questions that you ask her via email and SM, and with everything happening in the world right now, she thought this was the perfect time to debut “What Would Lu Do?”
On today’s episode, she will be discussing doing business through a crisis. In the 40 years, she’s been in business, she has had to weather all kinds of crises, such as recessions, acts of terrorism, and viral pandemic scares.
Listen in to learn how you can be smart, strategic, and patient to help you get your business to the other side of this!
Be sure to join her next Wednesday as she shares some additional tips to help you through this difficult time.
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Links:
LuAnn’s Website
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Purchase LuAnn’s Book!
Tips for Building Future Success When Your Interior Design Business is Slow
Episode Mentioned:
Welcome to A Well Designed Business! It’s WTF, Window Treatment Friday! In today’s episode, LuAnn and her friend and co-host of WTF, Vita (Vitalia) Vygovska, cover effective communication between the interior designer and the workroom to ensure a successful project.
One of the private Facebook groups that Vita belongs to is the “Soft Furnishings & Upholstery” group. Prior to this show, she posted a query asking for their stories on the topic of communication, both good and bad, that members’ workrooms have had with their designers.
She received some really good feedback on what worked and what didn’t work, and she and LuAnn will be sharing their collective wisdom with you today.
Listen in to take advantage of what others have learned from their experiences, and remember the most important thing of all: communication is key with everything!
Vitalia Vygovska (Vita for short!), CWFP, MBA, is an award-winning window treatment specialist, author, speaker, mom, wife, and a ballroom dance enthusiast.
Her company, Vitalia, Inc, provides all-encompassing concierge-level, tech-driven fabrication, measurement, installation, and project management services exclusively for interior designers.
Show Highlights:
Resources:
LuAnn’s Website
LuAnn’s Podcast - Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review!
Purchase LuAnn’s Book!
My Doma Studio: A Well Designed Business
Vitalia Inc. Grand Opening!
All are invited to join us for Vita's grand opening!
June 16th, 4-7pm
LuAnn is excited to be there and all are invited to join!
RSVP at Vitalia Inc Events
To learn more about working with Vita and Vitalia Inc: Vitalia Inc
To learn more & register for Vita's course: Profit With Window Treatments
Thank You to This Podcast Sponsor:
Open Your Trade Account with ARTICLE.com Here!
Mentioned Shows:
Links to previous WTF episodes #462, #471
Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! LuAnn’s guest today is Melissa Lindsay, Co-Owner of Pimlico Interiors, located in Westport, CT. She will be sharing some of the methods and tactics that she and her partner, Jill Kakaletris, use when dealing with difficult conversations and difficult clients.
As #seasoned designers, Melissa and Jill have had their share of difficult conversations with clients and together they have developed a personal philosophy for handling these as well as some actual tips to help you navigate them, too.
Whether you are crafting an email or having a hard person-to-person discussion, there are some strategies here that you can most certainly find useful!
Melissa brings 20 years of luxury residential design experience and award-winning interiors to the firm. Named at home Magazine’s A-list award winner multiple years over, she has been lauded by industry professionals from Celerie Kemble to Bunny Williams.
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Resources:
LuAnn’s Website
LuAnn’s Podcast - Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review!
Purchase LuAnn’s Book!
Connect with Melissa!
Mydoma Studio: Well Designed Business
Stamford Waterside Design District
March 19this the 4th birthday party for this podcast! Thanks to Kravet Inc for hosting this. Please join us 5:30- 7:30 pm at the Kravet Work Space Showroom at 200 Lexington Ave NYC. You can find the RSVP on EventBrite as well as on the website under the Events Tab.
March 21stto 24th Exciting Windows and IWCE / March 25th to the 27th
Teaching the Professional Window Coverings 7 Step Process, which is open to the public. Go to Exciting Windows. At the IWCE, Luann will be doing Closing the Sale Begins with Hello, as well as moderating some panels on Profitability with the Vin Man and Michele Williams. Next, LuAnn has a panel with Sara Brennan on Packaging your Process and Working with Window Treatment Professionals with Sara Brennan and Vita. Please visit IWCE-Vision.
April 2nd, Thursday, East End Interiors is celebrating 30 years in business this year and they have invited LuAnn to speak at their showroom in Long Island NY. If you were at LuAnn Live last year, then you know Sal and Enza and you already know what a fantastic family business they run. If you are in the NY Metro area, especially LI, you must make the time to join us so you can see everything they have to help you complete all of your design projects. They are a strictly to the trade showroom featuring furniture, lighting, accessory and more. LuAnn is also delighted to share that they are the Exclusive VIP Experience Sponsor for LuAnn Nigara Live 2020.
High Point Market in April. It all starts with LuAnn’s PTF Tour on Friday, April 24th, 8am to 11:00 pm. Yup, all day, this event is jam-packed, loaded-to-the-gills, with eye-opening A-ha’s and advice specific to your business. LuAnn brings you 3 of her PTF Experts and one of them is Sandra Funk, the CEO of HOF. Sandra will be on an upcoming PTF where you will learn how she truly runs the back end of her business. And then, get to spend the whole day picking her brain? Uhmmm, the price of admission is worth it right there, no question. During the next few days at HP, LuAnn will have several presentations and panels. Saturday, April 25th, she’ll moderate a panel at the showroom of the newest sponsor to join the show, Jaipur, which will be co-hosted by Revelwoods and the Interior Design Society. They will be talking about the Design-Build Process and how to navigate the big-ticket projects.
On Sunday, April 26th, LuAnn will be in the HP Theater at 12:00 noon for a very special one-on-one conversation with a very special friend, designer, and all around outstanding human being…not sure if ASID wants the proverbial beans spilled yet…so just put LuAnn on your dance card! Here’s a hint: If you were at LuAnn Live, you could probably make a good guess as to his name… Sunday at 4:00 pm you can always find LuAnn at the Kravet showroom. This is a wonderful opportunity to see and meet the incredible leadership team atKravet Inc. Later at 6:00 pm Sunday, there will be a special VIP party with Mydoma Studio. YOU are the special VIP :) This is a kickoff event to celebrate this new collaboration, so please join us.
I THINK THIS IS THE PART IN QUESTION
Monday morning, LuAnn will moderate a panel all about Process Leads to Profits. LuAnn’s friend and Process Leads to Profits course teacher, Sara Lynn Brennan will be there along with a few others yet to be announced. This is also hosted by Mydoma Studio. Check LuAnn’s Website later this month for all of the locations and details.
Welcome to A Well-Designed Business. It’s Power Talk Friday! On today’s show, Jude Charles joins LuAnn for a chat about videos, and how important they are to our websites.
He is here to explain that compelling video is achieved through storytelling, and how we can’t have video just for video’s sake. It must be compelling and it must do the heavy lifting of attracting our ideal client to us.
Jude is talented and clearly passionate about helping business owners tap into their unique value by creating the videos that help your clients feel like they already know you.Don’t miss this insightful and inspiring episode!
Jude Charles is a story-driven filmmaker, brand strategist & speaker. For over 13 years, he has been producing documentaries & videos for purpose-driven entrepreneurs. He lives and breathes YOUR brand. He digs deep to find the compelling stories that no one else knows & then leverages those stories to scale your business.
Show Highlights:
Resources:
LuAnn’s Website
LuAnn’s Podcast - Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review!
Purchase LuAnn’s Book!
Check Out LuAnn’s Second Book!
A Well-Designed Business - The Power Talk Friday Experts
Connect with Jude!
Jude’s Website
Thank You to This Podcast Sponsor:
Other guests mentioned for Shownotes and to tag in SM:
Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! In this episode, LuAnn chats with Jaclyn Lankiewicz, the woman behind the Instagram handle, Jaclynmari_.
She is the principle of Jaclyn Marie Interiors based in Long Island, NY.
Her journey into interior design, like many, has not been a direct line. Basically, Jaclyn created an Instagram page that was getting so much attention that it prompted person after person to ask her if she would design their space. As you will hear today, her response was, “I finally said to myself, ok, let me do this”.
Jaclyn created an Instagram that has created a design business, and since you already have a design business and want to create more clients through Instagram, perhaps you’ll find her tips to be very helpful.
Listen in to see what we can learn about how to attract clients through Instagram!
Show Highlights:
Resources:
LuAnn’s Website
LuAnn’s Podcast - Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review!
Purchase LuAnn’s Book!
Connect with Jaclyn!
Jaclyn’s Website
Jaclyn’shouzz
Jaclyn’s Instagram
Thank You to These Podcast Sponsors:
Connect with Your Local Kirsch Distributor Now!
Open Your Trade Account with ARTICLE.com Here!
Other guests mentioned from previous episodes:
Sara Lynn Brennan #’s: 463, 514