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A Well-Designed Business® | Interior Design  Business Podcast

509: Nicole Cole: The Mindset Shift to CEO

A Well-Designed Business® | Interior Design Business Podcast

LuAnn Nigara

Arts, Business, Design

4.9810 Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2020

⏱️ 80 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to this episode of Power Talk Friday! Nicole Cole joins LuAnn today for a chat about a-ha moments and the ensuing mindset shifts. Nicole will be sharing five takeaways she’s learned from both Power Talk Friday and her time with business coach, Nancy Ganzekaufer. You’ll want to listen in to hear her tips on how she accomplished her mindset shift to being a CEO so that you can implement these ideas for your business, too! Nicole Cole is the CEO and Principal Designer at vestige HOME, a Philadelphia based residential interior designer firm focused on creating spaces that are interesting, engaging, and that encourage people to live well. As a young adult, Nicole served in the Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer before leaving to pursue work in the corporate world. With her new-found freedom outside the military, she realized that she missed the curiosity and creativity she enjoyed as a child, and decided it was time to build a creative business. Thus, vestige HOME was born! Nicole and her team provide turnkey design services, which include trade resource coordination, sourcing expertise, creation of detailed plans, and open communication with her clients. With her many years of project management experience, she consistently delivers her projects in the most streamlined fashion with clear goals and expectations and a plan that provides the least amount of disruption possible to her client’s lives.   Nicole studied interior design at Monterey Peninsula College and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Information Systems from the University of Kansas. She believes in creating beauty and exercising a little creativity wherever possible, whether designing a room in a client’s house, picking the perfect pairing of plants for the garden, or just setting the table for breakfast on a Wednesday morning.  Nicole’s greatest joy is helping clients to create homes that reflect their lives and personalities while honoring the buildings that contain them. Show Highlights: Systems and processes are fundamental to the way you run a business. Confidence is the reward when systems and processes are used consistently. This confidence spills over to the client and they become confident in you. When you know what you will and will not do, and the why, you will be more selective about who you work with. When you refer a job because you know someone else can do it better than you can, it makes saying ‘no’ so much easier. Nicole’s Five Takeaways: She realized she was no longer “just” a designer, but the CEO. As CEO, she had responsibilities to herself, her team, and her clients. It’s important to build a team. Create the systems and processes, and teach them to your staff. Focus on the details of the client experience. Focus on profit, and don’t feel guilty! Lu Ann covers some additional obstacles that she has observed in speaking with designers. How there’s power in using the phrase, “In my experience”. LuAnn provides a designer perspective on how much work gets packed into each billing hour. When you truly explain what details go into what you do, that’s when the client can buy in to your charges. When you understand your own value for the work you do, you can then feel confident in either what you charge or raising what you charge. Resources: Join us for The Power Talk Friday Tour at High Point Market Friday, April 24th, 2020 from 8am - 11am! Sign Up For Updates HERE! Sponsors: Start Your Trial Now! Mydoma Studio- Your On-Stop Client & Project Management Tool! Jaipur A Well Designed Business Podcast® 4th Birthday Party New York City, New York Thursday, March 19th 5:30 – 7:30pm  Kravet Workspace, 200 Lexington Avenue, Suite 210 RSVP HERE! LuAnn’s Website LuAnn’s Podcast - Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review! Purchase LuAnn’s Book! Connect with Nicole! Nicole’sWebsite  Nicole’s Instagram Nicole’s Facebook Podcast Sponsor: Article Open Your Trade Account with ARTICLE.com Here! Links to other shows mentioned: Nancy Ganzekaufer #389 Michele Williams #180 Ashley Uhl #412 Bethany Mabee #450 Sarah Durnez #418 Brittanie Elms #149 Taylor Dieterich & Yashlie Negron #346 Kimberly Merlitti #442 Sara Lynn Brennan #463 Wendy Wolshchuk #316 Mikel Welch #297

Transcript

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0:00.0

Are you looking to build an exceptional team? Our hiring toolkit bundle at Luannigara.com

0:06.6

forward slash store is your comprehensive source for success. Craft compelling job descriptions,

0:13.8

know the right interview questions to ask, and implement a thorough evaluation process so you

0:19.0

get the right person. These were developed in collaboration

0:22.0

with my cousin Eileen Hahn and based on her 40 years of experience in building exceptional

0:27.2

teams, plus my insights from 1,000 plus interviews, our toolkits are tested and proven. Whether you're

0:35.0

scaling from 1 to 3 or from three to ten or from ten to

0:38.5

twenty, the hiring toolkit bundle provides the guidance that you can use to plan your

0:44.5

hiring strategy effectively. Go to Luanigara.com forward slash store and invest in your success

0:51.7

by investing in the success of your team.

1:08.0

Welcome to a well-designed business. My name is Luann Nigara, and I'm so glad you found this podcast.

1:14.2

Together with my husband, Vince, and our partner, Bill, we have grown our company Windowworks from the ground up.

1:20.1

So I know and I understand the challenges you face in running your interior design business.

1:26.2

I also know that your talent alone isn't enough

1:29.4

to ensure your success. So on this podcast, we talk about strategies and practical steps to help

1:36.3

you grow your business. But make no mistake about it, we have our share of fun here too,

1:41.2

mixed in with those aha moments that I love so much this isn't fluff nobody has time

1:46.7

for that whether you are a new interior designer or a season designer I am here to help you create

1:53.0

and to manage the kind of interior design firm that you dream of it's straight talk and it's action

1:58.9

are you ready let's get started.

2:03.6

Hi, welcome to a well-designed business. Nicole Cole joins me today. Nicole wrote to me,

2:09.3

thanking me for the five specific takeaways that she has learned by listening to the podcast

...

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