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Welcome to Confessions of an Interior Designer. I'm your host, Caroline Turner. Here we talk through the crazy stories that they certainly don't tell you in design school, because, let's face it, every space has its sins. Are you ready to hear confession? Hi, everyone. Welcome to our final episode of season two of Confessions of an Interior Designer. I wanted to do a solo episode for this final because we never get to talk directly to each other. And I know that sounds a bit parasocial, and I suppose it is from my side, but I really do value all of our listeners and all of the people who have made this podcast possible. There would be no reason for me to do this if there weren't other people on the other side listening. So I really, really appreciate it. And before we get into all the nitty gritty, I wanted to make a couple of acknowledgments. One, like I said to all of you who have been listening, this is something that, when I started it, I had no concept of what this could be. All I knew was that I wanted something that was discussing the messy middle. The part that I felt like was being left out of the conversation. There was so much discussion around, how did you get here? Meaning, how did you get to your level of success? How did you do this? How did you make it? And I was in the moment where I was like, I haven't made it. This doesn't apply to me. And if anything, it makes me feel bad, and if anything, beyond that, it makes me want to change my process and not trust myself. And so when I had this rattling around in my head, I was like, okay, well, you know, what if it was just, like, all of us talking about the shit that we get wrong? And while it sometimes gets away from that a little bit, I do think the heart of this show is that none of us are perfect. Even the most, you know, important people I've spoken with have plenty of stories of times they've fucked up or mistakes they've made or things they would change. And most often, I'm hearing people say, oh, my God, I was such an idiot. I can't believe I did X. But they end up following that up with, but it made me. It got me to where I am today, or I learned X, Y, Z because of it. And I really do think it's. Ultimately, if you weren't in the arena, you wouldn't even be able to make these mistakes because you wouldn't be there doing the thing. And that is something that helps me every day and I hope has Sort of been the thesis of this. But with that being said, as I said, I really value the opinion of all of our listeners. And so whenever I see you guys in public or we're at an event together or something, it's always so helpful when I get feedback from you guys. And I've tried to adapt every time, but I would love to hear from the wider audience as we're thinking and dreaming about season two and the potential of that. What do you guys want to see? Have we run our course? Is this something you feel like you've heard enough of? We get it that people aren't perfect. Is this something you want to hear more of? If you do, who would you want to hear? What do you want to hear us talk about? Are you rocking with how we are right now, or is there something you feel we could do better? I don't always ask for feedback on the Internet or out to a wider audience, but this is one that I really would value if you guys would take the time. Also, we're hoping to do more events and things in the future, so keep an eye out for all of us to be able to see each other in person. The other thing that I want to mention, and I know that not all of our guests who have been on the show listen, but for those that do, I just want to extend a heartfelt thank you to the people who have agreed to come on the show. When I first started season one, we did. We said we were going to do solo guest. Solo guest. Solo guest. Because I genuinely didn't think there was enough people who would want to be a guest on the show. And I just, yeah, got smacked in the face and realized how many people are yearning to talk about things like this. And so it has just been one of the highlights of my career to be able to sit next to people I admire in all different ways in this industry and pick their brain and find out all of the things that they've gotten right and wrong. And I know as someone who runs a business, all of our time is incredibly valuable. And to be able to be willing to exchange that knowledge for all of the people who are listening to me right now, it's something I'll never take for granted and never take lightly. But, yeah, I've just. There've been some days after I record where I'm like, I cannot believe I just got to have a full conversation with that person. It is something that I am very, very grateful for and that you guys have all given me. And of course, thank you so much to our sponsors, Programma and Designer Receiving. We couldn't have done this season without you. If you're potentially interested in sponsoring the next season, please, please, please please please email confessionsaroleturner co and if you think there would be a good sponsor, email us or tell them to come talk to us. Talk to us, talk to us. Here's a confession I know a lot of you can relate to for years I told myself I had my project management under control. Sure, I had 30 different tabs, docs and emails open at once, and yes, I'd occasionally panic search for a specification at midnight. But I was still managing. Right then I tried Programa and I realized I wasn't managing, I was just surviving. And barely. When I demoed the platform, I was most impressed by their incredible AI web clipper that pulls every single spec from a supplier's webpage straight into your product schedule. We're talking product details, dimensions, pricing, finishes, everything captured in seconds instead of the hours we used to spend copying and pasting into spreadsheets. It saves me so much time, and most importantly, it's given me back the headspace to actually focus on design instead of drowning an admin. So here's my advice. If you're serious about streamlining your design business and actually reclaiming some time in your day, head to programa.design and use code CONFESSIONS25 to get 25% off your annual subscription. Trust me, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it. Let's get into the confession. I used to work at a fairly well established design firm that had been built over decades by a very talented founder, a woman in her 60s who was widely respected in the industry. She started it as the principal designer and built it over the years to be a respected name in the industry, well known locally, and at this point had a handful of lead designers, me being one of them. During the time I was there, the founder announced her retirement and told us that she was relocating across the country. The plan was that her daughter, who was in her 30s and came from an art background, would take on the leadership of the company. She told us that she really valued the idea of a family business and wanted to continue on the legacy. Wow. Internally, people were skeptical. The daughter had gone to school for art history and had no real background in interior design. She would be managing the company but had no training in the industry in which it operated and none of us had ever met her. It seemed that she truly had no interest in the company whatsoever and was simply inheriting it as an Afterthought, no one wanted to be outwardly negative about it, but people were not thrilled. But whatever. I'd worked there for almost five years, and I wasn't the most senior there by far. This was a company that had a strong reputation and an established client roster. How much could that really change? Well, the first few weeks after the transition, the daughter made a very visible effort to be present. She was in the office meeting everyone, sitting in on product reviews, going through client lists, introducing herself directly. But honestly, there was a sense of performance to it, from my point of view. Like, when she'd be in the office, it was a lot of commenting on the feng shui of the office, the decor we had on the walls or lack thereof, little things like that that weren't important. It seemed like she was trying to position herself as an expert where she wasn't. She would bring things into the office to decorate, and to the rest of us, it just felt like clutter. It was a little odd, but I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt. She was new, and it did feel like things might settle into a rhythm. But that optimism lasted for all of maybe a month. She'd been working, quote, remotely more often while we were all consistently in the studio working. That soon became the default for her. We didn't see much of her after that month, and it wasn't like she was involved online either. She'd move meetings all the time or tell us she couldn't make it and to just brief her on it after. And the times that she would join, she'd often have nothing to contribute. And this was bad because as part of the restructuring, her role was supposed to be the main point of contact for clients to then be delegated to us. That was a mistake. So when she became harder to reach, everything started to hit obstacles. Approvals were held up, leaving clients waiting. We often couldn't move forward without her involvement. She was also consistently making poor financial decisions, like putting lots of things on the company card. And a few of the more senior designers felt like they were not respected by her. It created quite a lot of friction. And then, and I still can't believe this, we'd see it. Her shamelessly posting on social media from different countries or cities during these periods where she was supposedly working remotely. Like, she'd be in Paris one week and then in the Hamptons, posting as if her account was not public. She genuinely either thought she was pulling a fast one on us or thought that this was just fine for her to do, since she was the Boss. She thought it was fine for her to do guaranteed. But once this started to happen, there was much more outward dissent in the office and she was never there. So it became the tone. No one was happy. We'd have clients asking directly for her and there wasn't always a clear answer about when she would be available. That kind of uncertainty was a problem because clients already tend to be cautious and especially when we had these multi generational clients who trusted us and were using us for second and third homes. It was just a bad look. The moment I really knew I had to leave was on a potential client call we had been trying to organize for weeks. It would have been a significant project for me and the meeting had already been moved twice because we couldn't confirm she would be there. That's so annoying. On the day of the meeting, we were all on the call waiting to connect and she joined late without having reviewed the latest updates. The client started asking fairly direct questions about direction and timeline. And there was a long pause where it became clear she wasn't familiar with the detail needed to answer answer them. The client did not sign with us. I left not long after that and I wasn't the only one. A few other designers left right after me and as far as I know, only a couple ended up staying and they were young. About a year later, I got drinks with a couple of the other designers who had worked with me and one of them shared that the company was restructuring again and significantly downsizing. I almost felt bad because I really did love the original founder and enjoyed working for her. But this had been a really poor business choice on her part. Not long after that, the firm fully closed. They were no longer in business. Their website was not up nothing. The daughter had run the company into the ground. I can't say I didn't see that coming and I'm glad I got out when I did. It actually was the catalyst for me starting my own business. So it all worked out in the end. Wow. I mean, I love that there's a happy ending. That's always good, it's always uplifting. They have a lot to say about this because I cannot. I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is a mother's love is very blind. It would take a lot for me to put my child in the like CEO position of a company I built from the ground up when they did not work in the industry and had never worked at the company. Family businesses are amazing and I know there's multiple designers that I know that work like mother daughter work together. And that makes complete sense. You can secede the company to them whenever you, you know, retire. And they already have all of the information, all of the client knowledge. People are familiar with them. Like, that's one thing, and I think that's incredibly valuable and really sweet, honestly. But this is another thing entirely. This is like nepotism, but for running an interior design firm, which is so weird because it's really hard. Like, why would you. If I was a Nepo baby, I'd just be like, just leave me on my yacht. Like, I don't want to come run your company. I don't. I. And I'm putting words in their mouth. I'm not saying that they were. She was an EPO baby necessarily. But like, this is strange. I mean, my dad's an attorney. Like, he can't like give his business. Like, that's, it's just doesn't make any sense, especially in like a highly specialized industry. This is not like just a business. You know what I mean? This is not just like the CEO of some random company. Like, it's, it's specialized. So I feel that, that. I don't know how she didn't see that coming. Which. It's so interesting that someone who had made such good business decisions seemingly up to that point, because she got to where she was in the industry, to then sort of burn it all down by putting her daughter in the managing role is a choice, that's for sure. As this person said. I also think. Does being a mom make you think your kid is good at everything? There's something that's like, there's a little bit of delusion there. What? In what world? I just. At least it wasn't a man that she brought in as her successor. But I just, I mean, yeah, of course, it's no surprise she ran it into the ground. It doesn't sound like she was equipped. And in some ways that was the original business owner's fault. Like, she knew she wasn't equipped. But it's still, I mean, absolutely heartbreaking that, that you would want to pass this on to your daughter, your legacy. And then, yeah, she ran it into the ground. That's also. God, you would have to think that would affect. That would affect the mother daughter relationship. I wonder if they were close before. I wonder if they still are. I wonder. Yeah, I want more information. Really. I wish I knew what this was so I could google it, because I want more. But I, I think it's sad all around. The best part is that this girl Left and started her own business, which, if anything, seeing the writing on the wall and jumping chip while you still can, I feel like is never a bad idea. At least that's my takeaway from this. Maybe the reason I said Nepo baby is because the behavior is really giving Nepo baby. Like, you think you can come in for a month and just introduce yourself and be like, this pillow should be here and the feng shui should be here. And then you get to go to Costa Rica for six and like not do your job. Obviously not so. But that is very like not having to work for anything vibes to me. Because as most of us know who run a design firm or even work for a designer or are in this industry, you miss even like a month of time and you've held everything up. Products are stalled, months, potentially. Like everyone's mad. It is just, I mean, it's a nightmare to be gone that long. And I really envy the designers who have gotten to that point where they can sort of just make the high level decisions. But it's, I feel very rare and I would be shocked if this company, clearly this company was not set up to run that way. Like, that's the other thing. If you know you're working for a company that their founder is the name on the door, but they're not necessarily involved, that's one thing. But this was like a switch up. I guess we need some penance. I feel like the mother got her penance. Unfortunately, I feel like her penance was the result. I think the daughter probably needs her credit card taken away. She should probably be grounded. Let's ground her for a couple months. She's not allowed to go to like Thailand or wherever she wants to go. And maybe she needs to start earning some of that money back. Because the other thing I was thinking when I was reading this is, oh, my God, that woman could have sold this business. Like, if this was as successful as the person who wrote in is saying, they could have sold that for, I mean, a significant amount of money. So not only is it a risk just like to keep the business alive, but you could have retired with, you know, who knows how much. And I do find that so interesting, the idea of like buying an existing business and all of that. But I digress. I just think it's, yeah, it's a loss all around. So that poor mother. Yeah. And then, I mean, penance for the person who wrote in, girl, I think you did the right thing. I really have penance for you. Other than maybe treat yourself to Like a martini and a steak. Because you did the thing and you started your own business when it would have been much easier to go work for someone else. Which leads me to some questions that I hear people have for me. So Claire is actually going to join us. Join us, join us. Remember when I said Designer Receiving wasn't a sponsor and I just genuinely wanted to share how wonderful they are? That was true. But this episode is now officially sponsored by Designer Receiving. They work exclusively with interior designers to handle everything from receiving an inventory to storage and installation. But what truly sets them apart is how much they care and go out of their way to make sure every project goes smoothly. They're organized, tech forward and people focused, building genuine relationships with the designers they work with. If you want a partner who truly has your back, Designer Receiving is it. Check them out@designerreceiving.com. Claire is our podcast producer, so I really should say Claire is like the one who makes this podcast run. So a producer, but a very, very important one. And she is going to get into some question. So I'll let you take it away. Hello.