Practical Marketing & Personal Development Education for Professional Interior Designers

Here is David Shepherd’s latest newsletter, Waking Up, from Designing Profits, Inc., http://designingprofits.com

Dear Gail,

Last week I was dealing with the question of why a client chooses one designer over another, even if the one they choose charges substantially more.  I laid out ten reasons that had first been presented at the “Creating Your Celebrity Brand” Conference we staged in Atlanta in February of 2007.

These ten reasons can be summarized by saying that you, the designer, must create an emotional experience for the client.  It is their neurons that must be ignited, but the only way to do this is through the “vibe” that you emote which is the result of your passion.  The tease for this edition, then, was “How do you discover this passion, this ‘celebrity?’  The answer is, you wake up.  And how do you wake up?  You read the next edition of the Insider Advantage!”

And here we are with the next edition, so are you ready to wake up?

I use the term “wake up” as it was used by a Jesuit priest named Anthony de Mello in a wonderful book called Awareness.  Far from praising the clergy and organized religion, de Mello often chastises them for offering platitudes and stereotypes that enable us to move through our daily lives with actions that tend to conform, rather than actions that tend to stand out.  He believes that organized religion, not to mention educational institutions, government — and even our parents–provide non-stop pressure to conform rather than to innovate.  To be carbon copies, rather than originals.

If you look at the hundreds of interior designers in the yellow pages in any large city, keep in mind that they have all been subjected to the pressures to conform and only a few have broken free.  It is those few who do the daring work, the original work, the authentic work.  It is those few who become the “celebrities” and who earn the outsized fees.  In most cases, they are also among those who most enjoy what they do.

Here are the tips to help you “wake up,” separate yourself from the pack, and claim your unique brand:

     1. Recognize that embracing your authentic brand is not about getting something, it is about getting rid of something.  Probably, lots of somethings.

     2. Recognize that we don’t want to “wake up.”  Sleeping is comfortable, waking up can be painful until we’re fully awake.

     3. A sign of “waking up” is when you start asking yourself, “Am I crazy? Or are all of them crazy?”  Quickly write down three answers to this statement: “Most people don’t know I’m crazy in the following ways.”

     4. Look at your list.  Accept the fact that people don’t know that about you because you (or your “training”) have sought–or fought–to suppress it.  Understand that it takes more energy to suppress something than it does to just let it out.  When you suppress or renounce something, you are tied to it forever.  (De Mello tells story of how when he took confession, every prostitute wanted to talk about God, and every priest wanted to talk about sex!)

     5. If you ever feel burned out or bored with your practice, it is NOT because of what you are doing is boring or mundane, it is because a small but potent part of your brain is constantly reminding you of the vital and exciting things that you’re NOT DOING!  Write down that one thing that you don’t often do, but you feel most alive and fulfilled when you ARE doing it.

     6. It’s that ONE THING that you must make a larger part of your life–whether or not it has to do with your design business.  I don’t care if you’re 74 and weigh 280 lbs., if your answer to that question was to be a ballerina, find a way to incorporate ballet into your life.  And if you decide it’s too late to be on stage, how about studying the great ballets of all time, the great ballet studios, the great ballet dancers, and while you’re at it, why not find a way to incorporate those influences into your design?

     7. Following this example, accept that perhaps 9 out of 10, or perhaps 99 out of 100 prospective design clients with not want a ballet-driven designer.  So what?  You want the one who does because you know that you are now a “celebrity” in the field you have defined, not around market whims, but around your life’s passion.  By the way, the other 99 may say things about you.  They may call your  work “tacky,” or “overpriced,” or “arrogant.”  Are you okay with that?  If not, forget the idea of a celebrity brand, because by defining a tiny niche of ideal clients, you inevitably create a much larger “other.”  If you need for everyone to love you…good luck.

     8. By the way, once you simply drop all that energy (and smiles and clothing and cars, etc.) that you’ve been holding onto to impress the “Others,” you’ll have even more energy and passion to focus on the clients you love dealing with and who love dealing with you.

     9. In the classic cult movie “Office Space,” there is a scene where the two consultants are quizzing an employee on his job function.  When he fumbles the answer, creating questions about his value, one of the consultants finally asks the direct question: “What would you say you do here?”  That’s a great question for you as well, and don’t answer it just in business terms, but in terms of your life on earth.  Write your name on a blank sheet of paper and just stare at it for a minute, running through your mind the question, “What do I do here?”  Weave that answer into the fabric of your business and your life.

     10. You can change in an instant.  Don’t feel indebted to labels.  Don’t be concerned what others think.  Don’t feel the need to apologize for your decisions, or invest in the idea of others apologizing to you.  And don’t try too hard to change.  Just let go of your conditioning, declare who you are, and start anew.  It’s that easy.  And that hard.  But it can change your business…and your life.

With the authenticity that results from this line of thinking, you can begin a quest toward being your own celebrity designer.  And why do I spend so much time on this subject in a newsletter dedicated to strategy and profits?  If you have to ask…

Sincerely,

David Shepherd

President & CEO

Designing Profits, Inc.

www.designingprofits.com

About Gail Doby:  Gail Doby, ASID, is a professional interior designer specializing in interior design education that is not taught in interior design school.  Her award-winning residential interior design has been featured in local, regional and national publications.