From Scarcity to Abundance: How Mentors Transform Designers

Casey: 00:00:32

Hi, I'm Casey.

Rainey: 00:00:33

And I'm Rainey.

Rainey: 00:00:34

Welcome to the Reframing Design podcast.

Rainey: 00:00:37

If you're a new designer, a seasoned designer, a homeowner, or a home enthusiast, you are in the right place.

Casey: 00:00:44

We are going to talk about all things design.

Casey: 00:00:46

Our stories, our opinions, our experiences, and we're probably going to chase a few rabbits down a few rabbit holes.

Casey: 00:00:52

But one thing we can guarantee, we will not talk about politics.

Casey: 00:00:58

Good morning.

Casey: 00:00:59

That was a great clap.

Casey: 00:01:02

Do it again.

Rainey: 00:01:02

Okay, there it is.

Casey: 00:01:04

Or Michael and Seth are like, hi, good morning.

Rainey: 00:01:08

Hi, good morning.

Rainey: 00:01:10

How are you today?

Rainey: 00:01:11

I'm doing okay.

Casey: 00:01:12

What is your win today?

Rainey: 00:01:14

So when I was thinking about my win today, it has to absolutely be.

Rainey: 00:01:18

And I think this was yours earlier, but on another podcast.

Rainey: 00:01:23

But my win is definitely.

Rainey: 00:01:26

We're about to go on a family vacation, and we're going to Santa Fe.

Rainey: 00:01:30

You're feeling New Mexico, of course, which is my favorite place, by the way.

Rainey: 00:01:35

If you're listening and you have a place for sale, an awesome home for sale.

Casey: 00:01:40

In Santa Fe, Rainbows.

Rainey: 00:01:42

Can you please.

Rainey: 00:01:44

Can you please reach out to me and let me know?

Rainey: 00:01:48

So we're.

Rainey: 00:01:48

Yeah, we're going to take the kids and the grands.

Rainey: 00:01:51

One of our kiddos has to stay in California, but we'll have the other two in the grands and their special significant others, and we are going to do the thing.

Rainey: 00:02:01

So what's your win?

Casey: 00:02:02

Oh, my God.

Casey: 00:02:03

It's a big win.

Casey: 00:02:06

So my border collie brain, which is my officially now 501c3, but this is so special to me.

Casey: 00:02:15

But my grandparents started a foundation years and years and years ago that my stepmother, that my mom, Nancy, has run, and she is done running it.

Casey: 00:02:23

And so I was gonna maybe at some point take that over, but now she has just consolidated or what's liquidated.

Casey: 00:02:32

Liquidated it.

Casey: 00:02:33

Thank you.

Casey: 00:02:33

Not consolidated, liquidated.

Casey: 00:02:34

And given it to a bunch of different.

Casey: 00:02:35

But my border collie brain just received its first official big check.

Casey: 00:02:39

And so it's now I'm like, head spinning, literally.

Rainey: 00:02:43

I cannot wait to hear what you're.

Casey: 00:02:45

Going to do with it.

Casey: 00:02:46

It's going to be so freaking excited.

Casey: 00:02:47

Awesome.

Casey: 00:02:48

So that was a good win.

Rainey: 00:02:49

I love that.

Casey: 00:02:50

Which is amazing because now we're talking about wins.

Casey: 00:02:52

And this particular podcast today is about mentors.

Casey: 00:02:58

And I'm stealing the wins from my very first business coach, which is Terri Taylor.

Casey: 00:03:05

She made sure everything we ever started, whether it was a call or in person or otherwise, started with something positive, a win, because it really changes the trajectory of the conversation when you start that way.

Casey: 00:03:18

So anyways, that reminds me of something.

Rainey: 00:03:21

That one of my coaches at one time said, Paula.

Rainey: 00:03:26

She said that we always.

Rainey: 00:03:29

We start thinking about things in our lives, we see all the horrible things that could happen.

Rainey: 00:03:34

Right.

Rainey: 00:03:34

Somebody's running late.

Rainey: 00:03:35

They have automatically been in a car wreck or had some major event that has caused epic harm or undue harm.

Rainey: 00:03:44

And she challenged me to have positive hypotheses.

Rainey: 00:03:49

So if somebody's late, you're like, I bet that she changed her pants 27 times to make sure that she looks perfect.

Rainey: 00:03:59

Or, you know, she got stuck in our area of Houston by a train or two trains or four trains on her way here.

Rainey: 00:04:07

And to just have a positive hypothesis.

Casey: 00:04:10

Instead of that instant something bad has happened, because I think we do trigger that.

Casey: 00:04:14

And so it's so nice to start with a win.

Rainey: 00:04:16

Yeah.

Casey: 00:04:16

So thank you, Terri, for that, but I love that.

Casey: 00:04:20

So we get to jump into the mentor.

Casey: 00:04:21

So that was one.

Casey: 00:04:22

Okay, so that was a coach of yours.

Rainey: 00:04:24

Yeah, just a business coach.

Rainey: 00:04:26

Not really so much on the interior design side, But I know that you and I have sort of taken different paths to mentorship.

Rainey: 00:04:33

And so who is one of or some of your favorite mentors and what were some of the lessons that you learned that really reframed how you approach interior design?

Casey: 00:04:48

Great way to use that.

Casey: 00:04:50

Well, I guess I can start with.

Casey: 00:04:52

Yeah, Terri was definitely a.

Casey: 00:04:54

Not just a coach, but she was a mentor.

Casey: 00:04:56

She was.

Casey: 00:04:58

It's funny because the first time I met or saw her, I had just opened my office here in the design center and feeling so proud, but also, oh, my gosh, a little bit over my skis on stuff.

Casey: 00:05:11

And so came to, you know, we have events ceus here, and I came and listened to her, and she was the most real and comfortable person to listen to.

Casey: 00:05:22

And she just nailed so many of the things that I thought I was alone in, because our industry sometimes doesn't allow us to have to think everybody else doesn't have their shit together.

Rainey: 00:05:33

Open collaboration.

Casey: 00:05:34

Kind of what we're doing here now.

Rainey: 00:05:36

Right.

Casey: 00:05:36

Is trying to make people feel like, oh, God, no, not a lot of us don't know what the hell we're doing.

Casey: 00:05:41

We know what we're doing eventually, but there's 800 different ways to do it, and are we doing ours?

Casey: 00:05:47

Right?

Casey: 00:05:48

So she really spoke to that and the amount of questions she asked and people were like, oh, yeah, me too.

Casey: 00:05:53

Oh, yeah, me too.

Casey: 00:05:55

So then I joined with her and got coaching, and that it really.

Casey: 00:05:59

It changed the complete Course of my business in such a good way.

Casey: 00:06:03

It changed how my husband saw my business, actually.

Rainey: 00:06:06

I love you.

Casey: 00:06:07

Huge fan.

Rainey: 00:06:08

I love that.

Casey: 00:06:09

Yeah, it was.

Rainey: 00:06:10

I can't imagine.

Rainey: 00:06:11

I mean, knowing you and Matt and the way seeing you guys interacted, I can't imagine.

Rainey: 00:06:15

He wasn't always like in have in the cheer outfit with pom poms, you.

Casey: 00:06:20

Know, I wish I would dress him up in that every day if I could.

Casey: 00:06:24

He'd be cute too.

Rainey: 00:06:25

He would be.

Casey: 00:06:26

Great legs.

Casey: 00:06:27

But he.

Casey: 00:06:29

He wasn't.

Casey: 00:06:30

He was.

Casey: 00:06:30

He sees things through what we both realized, or I realized for both of us.

Rainey: 00:06:37

I realized.

Casey: 00:06:37

Here's what.

Rainey: 00:06:38

I'm going to use that one on Tom the next time.

Rainey: 00:06:39

I'm gonna say, here's what I.

Casey: 00:06:41

For the both of us.

Casey: 00:06:43

We are both messed up.

Casey: 00:06:44

No, we both had serious money.

Casey: 00:06:47

Scarcity was our deal big time.

Rainey: 00:06:50

And that'll permeate everything you do.

Casey: 00:06:52

Everything.

Casey: 00:06:52

And that's what I got from her actually was one of the things.

Casey: 00:06:55

That's so funny how that bleeds in.

Casey: 00:06:56

But so scarcity has been a big part of struggle for he and I getting past some of that over the years because how we grew up.

Casey: 00:07:03

And I wouldn't change a thing about how I grew up, but let's just say we weren't hiring interior designers.

Casey: 00:07:09

And our lifestyle was definitely different, both of us.

Casey: 00:07:13

And so he always was like, why do you need an office?

Casey: 00:07:18

You can have no overhead.

Casey: 00:07:19

And I did.

Casey: 00:07:20

I had my office at home all the way until Harvey hit, actually.

Casey: 00:07:24

And I just couldn't take it anymore.

Casey: 00:07:26

Plus we had four feet of water, so doing my house and other clients.

Casey: 00:07:31

So anyway, so the scarcity was one of his things.

Casey: 00:07:33

So coaching was not something he thought I needed, which is sweet, but I needed it terribly bad.

Casey: 00:07:40

And so anyways, once he saw the business change, I think he really recognized.

Rainey: 00:07:44

So is that something.

Rainey: 00:07:46

So have you always, through your journey, shared about who you're hiring and what they're doing with and for you with him and how much it costs?

Rainey: 00:07:54

Or is it sort of like I tell him enough so he's informed, but he doesn't need to know the deeds?

Casey: 00:07:59

Pretty much that.

Casey: 00:08:00

Yeah, that second part.

Casey: 00:08:01

Yeah.

Casey: 00:08:02

It's funny.

Casey: 00:08:02

Cause after joining Terry full on and I was, I'm not kidding, scared to death to tell Matt how much it cost.

Casey: 00:08:10

And I didn't for a very long time.

Casey: 00:08:12

And one of my good friends, Daily Gentry, who is.

Casey: 00:08:15

I met through that and biggest gift too.

Casey: 00:08:18

But her husband was all in and he was.

Casey: 00:08:21

But he's a business Owner himself.

Casey: 00:08:23

Matt has always worked for major corporations, which is fantastic, but very different than what we do.

Casey: 00:08:27

And so Eric made it seem okay.

Casey: 00:08:31

And so it came out one night at dinner and it just sort of flowed like conversations.

Casey: 00:08:35

So now I am getting better, but there are moments where I don't share all of it.

Casey: 00:08:39

Cause we just see it differently.

Casey: 00:08:42

And it's my business at the end of the day and how I feel like it needs to.

Rainey: 00:08:45

So I have to.

Rainey: 00:08:46

I have to.

Rainey: 00:08:47

You just reminded me of a story.

Rainey: 00:08:48

I don't.

Rainey: 00:08:49

It's been 30 years since I've thought about this.

Rainey: 00:08:52

But you're talking about being at a restaurant and it just sort of came out.

Rainey: 00:08:56

So when Tom asked me to marry him and I'll set the stage, I was 17 and he was 21.

Rainey: 00:09:07

And it seemed like a really great idea at the time.

Rainey: 00:09:09

Luckily my parents thought it was a great idea.

Rainey: 00:09:12

I was 18 by the time we actually had the ceremony.

Rainey: 00:09:15

But we go to dinner with my parents and of course everybody at the table looked like they had just swallowed a rat or something.

Rainey: 00:09:23

Cause everybody knew what was happening, but he had to do the thing.

Rainey: 00:09:27

And so we're at an Italian restaurant and Tom acted.

Rainey: 00:09:31

He had this menu up.

Rainey: 00:09:32

Like he was reading the menu and then all of a sudden he drops it real fast and he goes, can I marry your daughter?

Rainey: 00:09:39

And then he put the menu back up.

Rainey: 00:09:41

And of course that broke the ice and everybody was just cackling.

Rainey: 00:09:46

But that second of can I marry your daughter?

Rainey: 00:09:49

And then the menu right back up is.

Rainey: 00:09:51

And if you know Tom, that's so him.

Rainey: 00:09:54

But that's how he asked my dad if we could get married.

Rainey: 00:09:56

So I don't know.

Casey: 00:09:56

He had already asked you, but that was his way.

Casey: 00:09:58

Or did we all just kind of.

Rainey: 00:10:00

I don't.

Casey: 00:10:00

You just kind of knew it just.

Rainey: 00:10:01

We were born supposed to be married to each other.

Rainey: 00:10:03

So it was just.

Rainey: 00:10:04

I don't know, it was just a thing.

Rainey: 00:10:06

But of course he knew that I was going to be a yes.

Rainey: 00:10:09

But I.

Rainey: 00:10:10

He.

Rainey: 00:10:11

Yeah.

Rainey: 00:10:11

Anyway, that's how that went.

Rainey: 00:10:12

I don't know.

Rainey: 00:10:12

That just.

Casey: 00:10:13

I love that.

Casey: 00:10:14

No, that is so awesome.

Rainey: 00:10:15

Isn't that fun?

Casey: 00:10:16

Yeah.

Rainey: 00:10:17

So what?

Casey: 00:10:17

So for you who like mentors or people in your life who've really impacted or changed kind of how you see your business or do your business so.

Rainey: 00:10:25

Along the way, so many, I mean including our little group, we have a group of 10 designers or design adjacent people in our industry that we meet with on a regular basis or we have a group text that we they're amazing.

Rainey: 00:10:41

Amazing.

Rainey: 00:10:42

And we actually call ourselves the Design Bitches.

Rainey: 00:10:44

So with a Z.

Rainey: 00:10:45

With a Z, yeah.

Rainey: 00:10:46

And so great group.

Rainey: 00:10:48

But I think the person who has single handedly influenced the way I run my business and the way I think about luxury interior design is actually a client.

Rainey: 00:11:02

And I met David Walstead probably, I'm going to say, 22 years ago maybe.

Rainey: 00:11:12

I don't know if I'm exactly right about that, but that's what I'm gonna go with for this, for this story.

Rainey: 00:11:16

And I was doing a first house for them and I was so worried.

Rainey: 00:11:21

I didn't know how to spend other people's money with confidence.

Rainey: 00:11:25

And so I would go to like TJ Maxx or Home Goods or Target or Hobby Lobby, you know where we went.

Rainey: 00:11:34

Cause I didn't know all the things that I know today, obviously, and buy these accessories.

Rainey: 00:11:39

I was just in a little accessory project for them at the time.

Rainey: 00:11:42

And I took every receipt, I copied it, I highlighted what was theirs before tax or after tax or how all that was worked, and handed him an invoice that was stapled to these, you know, to 30 individual receipts copied on paper to justify what I was charging him and how the mentorship sort of started.

Rainey: 00:12:07

And it, I don't think it was like, I'm gonna be your mentor.

Rainey: 00:12:10

But I think he looked at me as a successful business owner and was like, this is not a thing.

Rainey: 00:12:15

I gotta help this girl.

Rainey: 00:12:16

And so he sat me down and he said, he was very flattering.

Rainey: 00:12:19

He said, I think you're gonna grow an amazing luxury interior design business.

Rainey: 00:12:25

And I wanna talk to you a little bit about how people with this kind of money view things.

Rainey: 00:12:31

And he said, I trust you.

Rainey: 00:12:33

I trust you to go spend my money.

Rainey: 00:12:35

I trust you to charge me something.

Rainey: 00:12:37

That's fair.

Rainey: 00:12:37

But I understand that you have to charge in such a take care of your family and I understand that.

Rainey: 00:12:44

And so what I want you to do is free up my time and my angst of having to make all these decisions and do it for me and charge a fair price, whatever that is.

Rainey: 00:12:57

And so that's sort of how it started.

Rainey: 00:12:59

And then he taught me several other things along the way.

Casey: 00:13:04

But I wonder because I'm hearing that and it's just, I mean, to anybody else listening, that has been the person who's got the TJ Maxx receipts.

Rainey: 00:13:14

Yeah.

Casey: 00:13:14

And then you have to take the water and the, you know, snacks off.

Casey: 00:13:17

Because God forbid you go into TJ Maxx and not get a water and snacks.

Casey: 00:13:20

Yeah.

Casey: 00:13:21

And Then you give that to the client and then they in the with your hours.

Rainey: 00:13:24

Yeah.

Casey: 00:13:25

And you don't do it on time and you didn't even put in all the hours and the client, you didn't.

Rainey: 00:13:30

Charge them for all the hours.

Rainey: 00:13:31

You put in more hours, you put in way more.

Casey: 00:13:34

And the back lashes are, you know, the back backlash I've gotten from clients are how did it take you that long?

Casey: 00:13:42

I'm not paying for those hours and all of that.

Casey: 00:13:44

So the fact which just sending those bills was always like so stress evoking for me.

Casey: 00:13:51

So the fact that one of your first people was so kind and literally said like you're doing your job the way you trust you but you need to get paid, but you need to handle it in a business like manner and not this like how did I pay you for that?

Rainey: 00:14:05

No.

Casey: 00:14:06

Four hours it took you.

Casey: 00:14:07

You're like.

Casey: 00:14:07

It actually took eight.

Casey: 00:14:08

But I couldn't charge all eight.

Casey: 00:14:10

Right.

Casey: 00:14:10

So anyways, I think that's the kindest.

Rainey: 00:14:13

Client and my husband is the one probably 10 years ago or so.

Rainey: 00:14:18

That said we need to shift from.

Rainey: 00:14:20

I don't charge hourly from an hourly rate to a project based deliverable rate which really impacted our contracts.

Rainey: 00:14:29

Our contracts got more detailed about, here's what we will deliver, this is what it will look like.

Rainey: 00:14:35

We invite the clients in to actually see deliverables on other projects and then to see the finished product through professional photos.

Rainey: 00:14:45

And then sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.

Rainey: 00:14:49

But it's a fair price for what it is the client is getting.

Rainey: 00:14:53

And I've had so much positive feedback from that because no matter how wealthy somebody is, they like to know what their exposure is.

Rainey: 00:15:02

They like to know kind of what you're going to cost and you have.

Casey: 00:15:05

Something you back up against a price, whatever that is.

Casey: 00:15:08

So learning that it's not about how much money a person has, it's about what they're willing to spend it on.

Rainey: 00:15:13

That's it.

Casey: 00:15:14

And I say it all the time.

Casey: 00:15:16

But like I myself spend a great deal of money on travel.

Rainey: 00:15:20

Yes.

Casey: 00:15:21

But I will not buy a bottle of water at the airport.

Casey: 00:15:23

Well, it's 469.

Casey: 00:15:25

It drives my head in and I.

Casey: 00:15:27

So we walk in with our already dry wagon.

Rainey: 00:15:30

Your Stanley or your empty water bottle.

Casey: 00:15:32

I can't even get a Stanley because God forbid there's not.

Casey: 00:15:34

That cup holder's not on my suitcase yet, but maybe I'll get one.

Casey: 00:15:37

But whatever the water bottle is, it's driving around in the car.

Casey: 00:15:39

It goes in our thing and we walk through and fill it.

Casey: 00:15:41

That is my headspace.

Casey: 00:15:44

So I try.

Casey: 00:15:45

That's a part of it, too.

Casey: 00:15:46

Having that conversation, that is all about the financial part and what people's comfort level is of their investment.

Casey: 00:15:53

Right.

Casey: 00:15:54

But that's obviously a whole nother topic.

Casey: 00:15:56

But because we've had mentors, because we've had coaches, we've learned how to get to those spaces because we work hard for our money, and we know our clients do, too.

Casey: 00:16:06

Right.

Rainey: 00:16:07

Mutual respect.

Casey: 00:16:08

Mutual respect.

Casey: 00:16:09

So I am the steward of their money.

Rainey: 00:16:11

That's it.

Casey: 00:16:12

We'll show them what is within their stuff.

Casey: 00:16:14

And if they want to go higher, that's awesome.

Casey: 00:16:16

But I'm not going to be there to break their budget.

Casey: 00:16:18

It's not my job to do it.

Rainey: 00:16:19

No.

Rainey: 00:16:20

And I think also one of the things that I've learned in working with luxury clients, like you said, they can have all the money in the world.

Rainey: 00:16:26

They may spend a fortune on rugs.

Rainey: 00:16:29

They might buy an $80,000 rug for a main space, but they don't want to spend any money on art.

Rainey: 00:16:38

It's like, can you take less expensive art, put a great frame on it and make it look good?

Rainey: 00:16:44

Is that a possibility?

Rainey: 00:16:46

Or vice versa.

Rainey: 00:16:47

They'll spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on art, but want a $5,000 main rug.

Rainey: 00:16:54

And so it's not our job to decide whether or not that's right or wrong.

Rainey: 00:16:59

Neither is right or wrong.

Rainey: 00:17:00

It's just, you find out what they value as a family, and then that's where you have to honor what they value.

Rainey: 00:17:07

And I might buy a rug that's more expensive than I've ever bought in my life and would never buy for myself, but they see value in it, and so that matters.

Casey: 00:17:16

It does.

Casey: 00:17:17

It really does matter.

Casey: 00:17:18

And I think that's where the people who we've worked with over the years help our brains kind of see that, because, like I mentioned, you know, I have the scarcity gene a little bit, or not so much anymore.

Casey: 00:17:29

Abundance is flowing.

Casey: 00:17:30

You've reframed.

Casey: 00:17:31

And now I've framed my mentality.

Casey: 00:17:33

I know.

Casey: 00:17:34

It's so true, though.

Rainey: 00:17:34

I love it.

Casey: 00:17:35

But when you come in with that, you assume that somebody wouldn't spend it, but then another mentor and coach, which is huge.

Casey: 00:17:46

Desi Creswell, who I love, and she has a completely different tactic, but she made it in such a cool way because it was like, what are you leaving on the table?

Casey: 00:17:57

That's taking away from your client's experience, essentially, was what I took away from that with her, which Was, that's powerful.

Casey: 00:18:03

It was very powerful.

Casey: 00:18:05

And I was kind of not bringing the whole thing to them or giving them the luxury experience, which is essentially what our clients deserve.

Casey: 00:18:12

And that's what they are paying for 100%.

Casey: 00:18:15

And so it was sort of an eye opening experience of if we don't talk to them about these things and get out of my own way, I'm not going to give them really what they ultimately want.

Casey: 00:18:26

So.

Casey: 00:18:27

Yeah, but we have to still be mindful for them.

Casey: 00:18:30

Like everything.

Rainey: 00:18:30

Like everything.

Rainey: 00:18:32

Another thing that David taught me so early on, I didn't have any sort of process, right?

Rainey: 00:18:37

No pos, no tracking.

Rainey: 00:18:40

It was just me.

Casey: 00:18:41

And for anybody who's listening, who doesn't know what a PO is, it's a precious order because honestly, that's it.

Casey: 00:18:48

Everybody uses these words.

Casey: 00:18:49

And I'm like, oh my God.

Casey: 00:18:50

Got a loi letter of intent, loa letter of agreement.

Casey: 00:18:54

Oh my gosh.

Rainey: 00:18:54

All these things, all these things.

Rainey: 00:18:56

But it was just me and I was just hanging on and I was doing maybe my second or third project for him at the time.

Rainey: 00:19:04

I just completed my sixth.

Rainey: 00:19:06

So.

Rainey: 00:19:07

So amazing.

Rainey: 00:19:09

But I didn't understand that very wealthy people don't have their money sitting in a bank account.

Rainey: 00:19:17

Like, I just thought they had money sitting in a bank account.

Rainey: 00:19:20

So what I would do is when my balance got low for rainy Richardson interiors is I would sit down and I would create an invoice.

Rainey: 00:19:29

Like, I'm going to do this today.

Rainey: 00:19:31

And I would try to think through all the things I ordered and kind of walk through the space.

Rainey: 00:19:36

Okay, I remember I ordered that and it was about this.

Rainey: 00:19:38

And I added this and this piece and it was about this much.

Rainey: 00:19:41

And I get this invoice and then I would email it to David and say, I need to pick up a check tomorrow morning.

Rainey: 00:19:49

Well, that worked for up until this particular time.

Rainey: 00:19:53

And it was a pretty large invoice.

Rainey: 00:19:55

And he called me and he said, first of all, you need a back office person.

Casey: 00:20:03

You're good at this stuff.

Rainey: 00:20:04

I'm going to need you to hire a back office version.

Rainey: 00:20:08

And he said it in the most loving, charming way.

Rainey: 00:20:10

And then he also said, I am not going to pay this invoice for 30 days.

Rainey: 00:20:17

And then he said, if it means you don't pay your mortgage or you don't buy groceries, that is not my intent at all.

Rainey: 00:20:25

You let me know.

Rainey: 00:20:27

But he said, and he explained to me, he took some time to explain to me that wealthy people have their money tied up in investments and they have to sell off things.

Rainey: 00:20:36

And this is before there was like, I don't know, 24, 7 banking.

Rainey: 00:20:39

This was years ago, right?

Rainey: 00:20:41

And so we have to wait till the banks are open and what if we're traveling overseas and all of these things?

Rainey: 00:20:46

And so your invoice is not my top priority.

Rainey: 00:20:51

It will be paid and it will be paid in a timely manner.

Rainey: 00:20:54

But you have to learn to have cash flow and to wait for these luxury clients to make payments.

Rainey: 00:21:02

You're not going to ask them for payment the next day anymore.

Rainey: 00:21:05

Your invoices need to say that you have a 30 day pay period or grace period for payment and you're not gonna ask for it again because they will pay you.

Rainey: 00:21:16

And I have to tell you, never once in my 24 year career has a client not paid an invoice.

Rainey: 00:21:24

Not one time.

Rainey: 00:21:24

So he was so right.

Casey: 00:21:26

So right.

Rainey: 00:21:26

But what a lesson.

Casey: 00:21:27

Such a lesson.

Casey: 00:21:28

But I don't, I'm curious to piggyback onto that and ask, did you had you already purchased things for him on your credit card?

Casey: 00:21:36

And he had.

Casey: 00:21:37

And then he still made you wait, which if there.

Rainey: 00:21:40

Reframe my business.

Casey: 00:21:42

Oh my God, did you reframe?

Rainey: 00:21:43

Now you pay before, you pay before.

Casey: 00:21:45

You can take as long as you want, but.

Casey: 00:21:47

Oh, and if it doesn't get paid and then we go to order the thing and it's.

Casey: 00:21:51

And it's discontinued, which.

Casey: 00:21:52

How many times does that happen?

Rainey: 00:21:53

Or the price has shot up, which.

Casey: 00:21:56

Now we are going to have to whisper Covid.

Rainey: 00:21:58

Because I'm over Covid.

Rainey: 00:22:00

I don't want to talk about it.

Casey: 00:22:01

Yeah, no, but it's.

Casey: 00:22:02

It taught us something.

Casey: 00:22:03

But it also is like, okay, you can.

Casey: 00:22:05

You said 30 days.

Casey: 00:22:06

And that actually has me pitting out more than some of the other stuff.

Casey: 00:22:09

Because 30 days means, oh, we're just reselecting everything because Ash is gone.

Casey: 00:22:14

She gone.

Casey: 00:22:15

Because nothing is staying on the shelves.

Casey: 00:22:17

I know, right?

Rainey: 00:22:18

But I mean, I'm so glad you brought that up.

Casey: 00:22:20

Please, please pay this.

Casey: 00:22:22

Only because.

Casey: 00:22:23

And I'm doing this.

Casey: 00:22:23

I've got two clients right now.

Casey: 00:22:25

I'm like, okay, Christmas, you know, the world shuts down for Christmas.

Casey: 00:22:29

Your stuff needs to be ordered before or we're just gonna have to reselect when we get back because it's either gonna be more expensive or whatever, right?

Rainey: 00:22:34

Or discontinued.

Casey: 00:22:35

Or discontinued.

Rainey: 00:22:35

So at the beginning of December, right, we start shutting things down because the last two weeks of December, the manufacturers are closed.

Rainey: 00:22:44

They're all closed.

Rainey: 00:22:45

And then the first week or two weeks in January, they do Inventory.

Rainey: 00:22:50

And so they're not accepting any POs from us until the third week in January.

Rainey: 00:22:55

And then preparing for market, they're more expensive now.

Casey: 00:22:58

They've gone up.

Rainey: 00:23:00

So they're doing their discos to prepare for market.

Rainey: 00:23:03

And so really, if you haven't paid for things by the end of November, there's a good chance.

Rainey: 00:23:09

And if I have to reprice everything, if Connor has to go and reprice everything to give you a new invoice that is going to cost you money.

Rainey: 00:23:17

And that is very specifically laid out in our contract that if you delay your orders, no problem.

Rainey: 00:23:24

We don't want to pressure anybody, but if it means repricing on our end, we have to cover that in some way.

Casey: 00:23:30

Yeah, that's brilliant.

Casey: 00:23:31

I love that because.

Casey: 00:23:34

Yeah, that is what's happened.

Casey: 00:23:35

I mean, it's just the nature of our business.

Rainey: 00:23:37

It's the reality.

Casey: 00:23:38

It is.

Casey: 00:23:38

So it's a little bit.

Casey: 00:23:39

It's a nuanced moment, right.

Casey: 00:23:41

Where you're like, oh, God, this is not everybody's experience.

Casey: 00:23:43

You know, not everybody knows this one.

Rainey: 00:23:45

So exactly what else have you learned from a mentor that's really, really stuck with you or reframed the way you think about your business?

Casey: 00:23:53

The importance of when you mess up, claiming it as your own mess up.

Casey: 00:24:02

There is zero.

Casey: 00:24:03

Passing it off onto somebody else.

Casey: 00:24:06

And not just owning it, but fixing it.

Rainey: 00:24:08

And for your employees, their mistakes are actually your mistakes, period.

Casey: 00:24:13

If I didn't catch it by the time it went out, if it happened and I wasn't specific enough, which happens to me often because my brain is constantly going and I miss the fine things they're in my head.

Casey: 00:24:26

And if I was the one writing it up, it would be written down.

Casey: 00:24:29

But if I'm just, you know, delegating, sometimes those things get missed so that it is my fault and it's going to be fixed.

Casey: 00:24:36

But Mark, I claim often marketing dollars when I have messed up or not done or it went away, that the client was not happy with.

Casey: 00:24:47

Perfect example.

Casey: 00:24:47

I had a client.

Casey: 00:24:48

We had the client meeting and had all the selections in person.

Rainey: 00:24:52

Yep.

Casey: 00:24:53

To see smell and taste and touch.

Rainey: 00:24:55

I hope they weren't tasting.

Casey: 00:24:58

Oh, there was food there.

Casey: 00:25:00

So anyway.

Casey: 00:25:00

Okay, okay.

Casey: 00:25:01

But no, you're right, don't eat it.

Casey: 00:25:04

But then sent them home with a presentation that we always print out for them as well.

Casey: 00:25:09

And pixels are different and how it saturates on the paper.

Casey: 00:25:13

Right.

Casey: 00:25:14

So the client had been sitting with this for two months before while everything was getting ordered.

Casey: 00:25:20

And so the wallpaper goes Up.

Casey: 00:25:22

And the powder.

Casey: 00:25:23

And it is not what looks like on the pixelated thing.

Rainey: 00:25:26

Such a great point.

Casey: 00:25:28

But she had seen it in person.

Casey: 00:25:29

Ah.

Casey: 00:25:30

She doesn't remember that because there's a lot of things to see.

Casey: 00:25:33

I bought the most.

Casey: 00:25:35

Another beautiful, opportune wallpaper that looked more like the pixelated.

Casey: 00:25:40

Yeah.

Casey: 00:25:41

So I paid.

Casey: 00:25:42

Yeah.

Casey: 00:25:43

That was a.

Casey: 00:25:43

There's no way.

Casey: 00:25:44

Because.

Casey: 00:25:45

And it's been multiple things and I, you know, I've paid for slabs.

Casey: 00:25:49

I mean, all these things.

Casey: 00:25:50

I have paid probably for more for other people than myself.

Rainey: 00:25:53

But because you have to make it right.

Casey: 00:25:54

You have got to make it right for yourself, for your business, for them, obviously.

Casey: 00:25:59

But somebody may not say their designer did anything in their house, even if they love it.

Rainey: 00:26:03

Yes.

Casey: 00:26:04

But they will say when you messed it up.

Rainey: 00:26:05

That's right.

Casey: 00:26:06

And that is something in someone's mouth I never want to happen.

Casey: 00:26:09

That's right.

Casey: 00:26:10

Is that I didn't handle my shit.

Rainey: 00:26:11

That's right.

Casey: 00:26:12

And yeah.

Casey: 00:26:13

So I will say, like Gildobie's group.

Casey: 00:26:16

Yeah.

Casey: 00:26:17

They're very big on taking care of those things and owning it.

Casey: 00:26:21

And you're the CEO.

Casey: 00:26:23

We are the CEOs of our company.

Rainey: 00:26:24

And you're with us.

Rainey: 00:26:25

I've said this to our employees and then also to my kids growing up to.

Rainey: 00:26:30

You know, it's really easy when things are going well, but when you have tough times in relationships, you want to leave all of those things as clean as possible.

Rainey: 00:26:40

So if you run into them on the toilet paper aisle at the grocery store, that you don't have to turn around and act like you didn't see them or be hateful and not speak.

Rainey: 00:26:50

That you can hold your head high and own, I made a mistake, but I left it cleaned up and I'm human.

Rainey: 00:26:56

And we even talk about that in our meetings, especially when we're gonna be looking at starting a remodel.

Rainey: 00:27:02

It's like this remodel is gonna suck so bad.

Rainey: 00:27:05

However bad you think it's gonna suck, it's gonna suck 100 times worse.

Rainey: 00:27:10

And then you can double that.

Rainey: 00:27:12

And there are gonna be days that you just don't like us very much.

Rainey: 00:27:15

And.

Rainey: 00:27:17

But I promise you, at the end, it will be all packaged in a neat little bow and you will be happy.

Rainey: 00:27:24

And it has always happened that way.

Rainey: 00:27:26

But, you know, those things get messy.

Casey: 00:27:29

It's so messy.

Casey: 00:27:30

And actually, it's so funny because when I.

Casey: 00:27:33

The first time, one of the first times, I would consider you.

Casey: 00:27:36

Well, I would definitely consider you a mentor in so many ways.

Casey: 00:27:38

But one of the ways.

Casey: 00:27:40

Like after you followed me out of Fabric House one time because I was coming, you know Fatima, who's fantastic, she was asking a question about curtains.

Casey: 00:27:48

And I'm like, oh, for goodness sakes, how many pleats can there possibly be?

Casey: 00:27:51

I love construction, but the soft furnishings, it's taken a moment.

Casey: 00:27:54

I've wrapped my head around it, but.

Rainey: 00:27:57

And you're amazing at it.

Casey: 00:27:58

I don't know which one.

Casey: 00:27:59

I don't know.

Casey: 00:27:59

Just go, French pleat.

Casey: 00:28:00

Let's just call it good.

Casey: 00:28:01

And you came out of the store and shared like, okay, do you need help?

Casey: 00:28:05

Come to my office.

Casey: 00:28:06

Like, I will go through all this because you had off white at the time, before it was even our home.

Casey: 00:28:11

And it was the hugest moment.

Casey: 00:28:14

But then we bonded over what you're talking about, because I had just had my assistant put together I what to expect thing, and you sent me yours.

Casey: 00:28:21

And it had the diagram of, like the ups and downs, the emotional roller coaster of it.

Casey: 00:28:26

The grass.

Casey: 00:28:27

Yes.

Casey: 00:28:27

And it's such a, such a huge thing to share because people are so high.

Casey: 00:28:32

They do forget those things, how exciting it was or whatever.

Casey: 00:28:35

It gets forgotten.

Casey: 00:28:36

Conversation gets forgotten.

Casey: 00:28:37

So communication with them through the whole thing, so important to guide them, right?

Casey: 00:28:42

So, yeah, it's huge.

Rainey: 00:28:43

I was thinking another thing that I learned from David again is clients asking how much we mark things up.

Rainey: 00:28:54

So I actually took this to him and I said, can I ask you a question?

Rainey: 00:28:58

This is something that I'm being asked is you're selling me this piece of furniture.

Rainey: 00:29:04

How much are you making on it?

Rainey: 00:29:05

And I knew that that question wasn't right, but I didn't know why.

Rainey: 00:29:10

And this is what he shared with me, and it was life altering.

Rainey: 00:29:14

He owns a very successful oil and gas company and they make pieces for like drills, like down drills or whatever that actually disintegrates so that to be replaced all the time.

Rainey: 00:29:27

It's just a really genius thing.

Rainey: 00:29:29

And he said, I have big name oil and gas companies come to me all the time.

Rainey: 00:29:34

And they ask me, how much is that widget?

Rainey: 00:29:37

And I tell them, actually, my business is worth about, I don't know, $100 million today.

Rainey: 00:29:43

And so if you would like to buy my business, you can know exactly how much this widget costs.

Rainey: 00:29:49

But until then, we're just going to talk about what it is I'm charging you and whether or not you would like to buy this thing.

Rainey: 00:29:55

And I was like, oh, that's.

Rainey: 00:29:58

That's amazing.

Rainey: 00:29:59

And I heard another designer say, we don't go Into Target and ask Target how much they paid for something.

Casey: 00:30:04

We're not saying.

Rainey: 00:30:05

Can we decide whether or not we want to.

Casey: 00:30:07

Can I get what you paid for it?

Casey: 00:30:09

No, actually.

Casey: 00:30:09

And no.

Casey: 00:30:10

It's a complete sentence, which is my favorite.

Casey: 00:30:12

But that is brilliant because it is so true.

Casey: 00:30:15

It's like, well.

Casey: 00:30:16

And I know you said you don't do hourly anymore.

Casey: 00:30:19

I don't as well because we're fast.

Casey: 00:30:21

We're just much faster.

Casey: 00:30:22

There's no.

Rainey: 00:30:23

We have 25 years experience between behind both of us.

Rainey: 00:30:25

So 50 years combined.

Casey: 00:30:26

50 years total.

Casey: 00:30:27

So that's a lot to not have to do it.

Casey: 00:30:29

But it's like, well, it's 25 years and it took me 15 minutes.

Rainey: 00:30:33

Yeah.

Casey: 00:30:34

And then the 15 minutes it took.

Casey: 00:30:35

But all that back.

Casey: 00:30:36

How do we bring that in?

Casey: 00:30:37

But it's just teaching.

Casey: 00:30:38

But that question still comes up and it's still.

Casey: 00:30:43

It blows my mind.

Casey: 00:30:44

There is not another industry that people ask people, how much?

Casey: 00:30:48

What is your markup?

Casey: 00:30:49

Do I get your discount?

Rainey: 00:30:50

No.

Rainey: 00:30:51

And the other thing is that those accounts for us are not free.

Rainey: 00:30:54

We have to have opening orders, sometimes to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars to get the privilege of ordering from them.

Rainey: 00:31:03

We pay for samples, we have rep meetings, we go to market to maintain our relationships.

Rainey: 00:31:09

None of that is free for us.

Rainey: 00:31:11

And so because we have that knowledge and that line and we're able to bring it to you, sometimes we do presentations on whole houses and we have as many as 30 different vendors represented in that house.

Rainey: 00:31:23

We're not going to one.

Rainey: 00:31:24

Right.

Rainey: 00:31:25

And so with that takes a lot of knowledge and expertise to be able to put those things together and have those samples.

Casey: 00:31:32

And so I think that is the best way I've heard it in a long time.

Casey: 00:31:35

It's just how that.

Casey: 00:31:36

The back end, back end.

Casey: 00:31:38

And that's.

Casey: 00:31:38

But it's again, it's communication.

Casey: 00:31:40

It's kind of retraining how we reframing, how we share our information and if it comes out on the front end, because I've got a couple friends who.

Casey: 00:31:48

It's written right in there and even in my contract.

Casey: 00:31:51

And how many times have you probably changed yours?

Casey: 00:31:54

Every client you add another thing.

Casey: 00:31:55

Absolutely.

Rainey: 00:31:56

The thing you learn goes on.

Casey: 00:31:58

You won't pay it over.

Casey: 00:31:59

What you would find this at the store, but you're not.

Rainey: 00:32:02

I'm happy to share the vendor and the back information, but you're going to pay what you would pay if you were an individual getting that item.

Rainey: 00:32:09

And we're very, very, very transparent about that.

Rainey: 00:32:11

So is there Anything else or are you ready to talk about the.

Rainey: 00:32:16

What we've noticed.

Casey: 00:32:18

What you've noticed.

Casey: 00:32:19

What have you noticed?

Rainey: 00:32:22

I think and this is in working on the Colorado house again, it's just front of mind right now.

Rainey: 00:32:29

There's such huge spaces.

Rainey: 00:32:30

Cause you know, they have the huge cathedral ceilings like 30 foot.

Rainey: 00:32:35

And it's like how do you art those walls?

Rainey: 00:32:39

Like how do you make that even a thing?

Rainey: 00:32:41

And so in going and looking for giant art in the past that's been so daunting because there hasn't been really great.

Rainey: 00:32:50

And I'm gonna tell you I'm finding some amazing like show stopping things.

Rainey: 00:32:55

And so I would say something is.

Rainey: 00:32:57

And I don't know if you agree with that, but I'm seeing huge art.

Casey: 00:33:01

And not just huge art coming out, but like the size itself.

Casey: 00:33:04

And art is having a moment.

Casey: 00:33:07

It's a wonderful moment right now.

Casey: 00:33:09

Absolutely moody art.

Casey: 00:33:10

And like we went so far away from things that was sort of went abstract and stuff.

Casey: 00:33:15

And not that that's not happening still.

Rainey: 00:33:16

But I feel like these an owning.

Casey: 00:33:19

Yes.

Casey: 00:33:19

People are really wearing their art in a cooler, cool way now and representing it.

Rainey: 00:33:23

I love that.

Casey: 00:33:24

That's.

Rainey: 00:33:24

Do you think that's one sort of also one of the ways that we have become fearless?

Rainey: 00:33:28

Like we face something as a nation and as a world that sort of.

Rainey: 00:33:32

We made us all very fearful and then we're like, screw it, we're not going to be afraid of anything anymore.

Rainey: 00:33:37

We're just going to own it.

Casey: 00:33:38

Yeah, maybe.

Rainey: 00:33:38

And maybe that's impacted art as it has in different periods throughout history and around the world.

Casey: 00:33:44

Maybe because I think people are really truly creating their homes for them now.

Rainey: 00:33:49

Yeah, I agree.

Casey: 00:33:50

If anything social media has done it has allowed a little bit of that.

Casey: 00:33:55

Even though everybody's in their own business in such a way.

Casey: 00:33:59

But like there is no right or wrong.

Rainey: 00:34:01

I agree.

Rainey: 00:34:02

And art is really, really showing that.

Casey: 00:34:04

I love that.

Rainey: 00:34:06

So until next time, be thinking to yourself, what is something that you would like to reframe?

Podcast Host: 00:34:13

That's a wrap for this episode of Reframing the Art of Interior Design.

Podcast Host: 00:34:18

We hope you had a blast and found some inspiration to bring your dream space to life.

Podcast Host: 00:34:23

Feeling inspired to start your own home transformation?

Podcast Host: 00:34:25

Contact us@helloreframingdesign.com we want to help you make it happen.

Podcast Host: 00:34:31

Don't forget to subscribe.

Podcast Host: 00:34:33

Share and leave a review.

Podcast Host: 00:34:35

This show was edited and produced by Truth Work Media.

Podcast Host: 00:34:38

Until next time, remember your space is your story.

Podcast Host: 00:34:42

Make it beautiful.