← Trade Tales
Trade Tales
How Alex Kaehler stepped away from her firm to gain a new vision for its future
01:07:01
Alex Kaehler on how putting her firm’s values in writing changed the company culture, how she’s communicating rising costs to clients, and how she’s finding joy these days in a workflow that has her getting into the weeds on each and every project.
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- [00:02]
Alex Kaler
There are some people who can manage having all those balls in the air really well. And then there are some people where you hit a wall and you just say it's just too much and I hit the wall. That for me was a cue to say I have to hit pause. I have to figure out what this looks like Moving forward.
- [00:25]
Caitlin Peterson
Hi, I'm Caitlin Peterson, the editor in chief of Business of Home. Welcome to Trade Tales. We're back for of the show where I'll be talking to interior designers about the challenges, pivots and perspective shifts that come with growing a design firm. My hope is that you hear your own why echoed in these stories, or an idea or a way of doing business that sparks your own breakthrough. I hope it helps you realize that even when times are tough and entrepreneurship feels lonely, you're not alone. My guest today is a designer who found herself with a rush of new work and an opportunity to really scale her business during the pandemic boom, but who soon realized that the way the firm was growing didn't leave her feeling fulfilled, stressed and stretched thin, she decided to push pause on her business, even when that meant winding down active projects and handing them off to other firms. In the quiet that followed, she was able to finally discover what was missing and establish a new set of intentions to guide her path forward. I can't wait to share it with you, but first a quick word from our sponsors. This podcast is sponsored by Lutron. Lutron offers a variety of whole home solutions that allow designers to control light like never before. Create beautiful, bespoke and intuitive scenes for your clients with Lutron's unrivaled quality of light, motorized window treatments and custom engraved controls. Visit experience lutron.com to get inspired today. This podcast is also sponsored by Serena and Lily, whose trade program offers designers exclusive access to their high quality collections including com and custom size upholstery and a dedicated support team for seamless end to end collaboration. Other trade member benefits include the best pricing, fast complimentary swatches, competitive lead times and an extended window for returns. Plus, Serena and Lily trade members receive additional discounts and free white glove delivery offers on their Benchmade furniture and decor throughout the year. Visit serenandlily.comtradetales to become a member today.
- [02:53]
Alex Kaler
I was always a creative kid, but I was sort of this floundering artist where I wanted to be someone who could draw and paint, but I was never very good at it. But what I did love doing was rearranging my room and choosing bedding and choosing paint colors and helping My mom. I was surrounded by people who I always say are house people. My grandparents and my parents. They were just people who really valued what your home felt like and what it looked like and how you entertained. And that was very much who I was from the beginning. It was just sort of innately who I was, and the people around me were the same. But nobody had pursued it as a career. And so as I got older, thought about what I wanted to do. It just never crossed my mind to be a designer.
- [03:35]
Caitlin Peterson
That's Alex Kaler in search of a career that combined business and creativity. She studied advertising and marketing in college. But in practice, that path wasn't quite what she had imagined.
- [03:48]
Alex Kaler
Three days after I graduated college, I started at what I thought was my dream job at an advertising agency in Chicago. I just really quickly realized that as an account manager, I definitely wasn't really doing any creative work. And so while I was there, I just needed sort of a creative outlet. And I started a blog. And it was before Pinterest. And so it was really just this place where I could collect images that inspired me and that were aesthetically pleasing, and I could post links to things that I was looking at online, and it was just an outlet. Ultimately, I hit the wall at the big firm and realized that that was not my dream job. And so I was leaving to go work at a smaller marketing agency. And I was just feeling really uninspired by the opportunity. One of my very best childhood friends, who's known me since I was 2, said to me, I don't get it. What are you doing? You're so unhappy. Why don't you be an interior designer? That's what you always write about on your blog, and you've always loved it. That was sort of all it took was someone else saying to me that that was an option. Everything fell into place.
- [04:50]
Caitlin Peterson
The shift was immediate. Alex promptly enrolled in design school. And suddenly she saw a window into a future that she was excited about. As she approached her final semester, a surprising new opportunity would come along that put her even more firmly on the right path.
- [05:07]
Alex Kaler
My sister was in college at the time and was working as a receptionist at a gym. And she was speaking to one of the women who was an instructor there. And the woman mentioned that she had bought a house on the North Shore of Chicago and knew that my sister had grown up on the North Shore and said, you know, did your parents ever work with an interior designer that they liked? My husband and I are looking for someone. And my sister said, well, yeah, actually, Alex, my Sister is a designer and is looking for new clients. And so she put us in touch. They knew exactly what they had signed up for, that I wasn't someone coming in with tons of experience, but that I had an eye that they liked. I had it photographed and it was published and it gave me a little bit of confidence that I had been lacking. You know, was just this jumping off point where it was like, okay, let's see what I can do.
- [05:48]
Caitlin Peterson
In 2011, Alex officially launched her firm on Chicago's North Shore. I wanted to talk to her about how putting her firm's values in writing changed the company culture, how she's communicating rising costs to clients, and how she's finding joy these days in a workflow that has her getting into the weeds on each and every project. When you launched your firm, what were your goals? Like, what did you think it was going to be and what did you want it to become?
- [06:17]
Alex Kaler
I wish that I could say that I have this beautifully planned out business plan of what I wanted and what I dreamed and what my five year plan was and my ten year plan, but I didn't. I hoped that I would be able to pay my bills and contribute to my husband and I's apartment and that I could have a job that I loved. And beyond that, I don't think I really thought a whole lot. I remember having a conversation with my mom as I decided to make this change and she said, you know, so many of my friends are decorators and it's just a terrible job and you really get beat up and you never make any money and are you sure this is what you want to do? And I remember even early on thinking to myself, I, that's not what I'm looking to do. If I'm going to do this, I'm going to build a business and I'm not going to be your friend across the street who orders pillows. And not that there is anything wrong with that, because I think that there's a lot to be said and there's a lot of talent in those people. I knew I wanted the business piece of it too. I enjoy that piece of it. And so if I was going to do this, I wanted to be focused as much on the business as I was on the design.
- [07:28]
Caitlin Peterson
How did the business grow and evolve in kind of the early years? What, what was that growth trajectory like?
- [07:33]
Alex Kaler
I think at the time it felt slow. And now in retrospect, it maybe wasn't as slow as I thought.
- [07:39]
Caitlin Peterson
Right.
- [07:39]
Alex Kaler
But I think that, you know, it's a Word of mouth business. And I always felt really strongly that I wanted to keep it that way, that I didn't want to do paid advertising or, you know, any sort of real marketing. I wanted someone to be talking to their friend and say, I had such an amazing experience with Alex Kaler and you should give her a call. So, yes, there was times when the growth was slow, but I think I really just kept pushing and saying, okay, once I finish this project, now I feel more confident doing bathroom renovations. And then I got my big first big kitchen renovation under my belt, and I felt like, okay, I can put myself out there in that world now too. And. And so I was very keenly aware of what I didn't have experience with, but also really aware of what I did. And so each time I would sort of cross a threshold of learning that new skill and getting comfortable with it and feeling like I was in a position to really execute on it moving forward, I sought those projects out. One thing I did pretty early on was I was introduced to a contractor who lived in my area who was about my age and was sort of starting out his business. And a friend of my family had worked with him and had a really great experience and wanted to introduce us. And so she introduced us. And not only did he become an incredible person in terms of work and helping me learn the construction business, he became an incredibly close friend as well. And we really grew our businesses alongside each other. And he taught me so much about construction, which I think is just such a valuable skill set in. In our industry. And so we still, to this day, 10 years later, do a lot of projects together. I think as a designer, that has been something that I have worked really hard at providing for my clients. As someone who understands construction, to the extent that it's not my job necessarily, I'm not swinging the hammer, but I want to know what's going on, and I want to be able to problem solve, be a partner in. In the project.
- [09:41]
Caitlin Peterson
That's huge. What does that look like? I mean, what are some of the questions you have today even if that's not your build partner?
- [09:48]
Alex Kaler
Gosh, I call him about everything. He's my work. He's my work husband. You know, I call him when a shower cartridge broke recently, and the client. And it was brand new, and the client was upset, and so I called him and I said, okay, why would a brand new shower cartridge break? And he said, oh, it was probably installed before the heat in the house was turned on, and so it cracked. Okay, that makes perfect sense. So then at least I can go back to my client with an explanation and a plan on how to move forward and how to fix it. Because that is ultimately a designer's job is you are the liaison between this huge team of people executing the project. And I always want to be advocating for my clients and I always want them to feel as though I'm advocating for them. But the only way I can really do that is if I understand on a pretty deep level what's happening. And so he has just been really instrumental in helping educate me, you know, in the things that are helpful to me. So, you know, can I install an H VAC system? No, definitely not. But I can at least speak to you about why you would choose a two zone system. So I'm, I am very thankful for him. He has grown his business into something incredible and I'm very lucky that we still get to work together on a pretty regular basis with clients. And he's also done a few of my houses as well.
- [11:08]
Caitlin Peterson
That's amazing. You know, I know you, you hired someone pretty early on to kind of take on the parts of the work that weren't your strong suit. But how did you think about hiring? How did you think about growing a team? What was your strategy as the firm grew?
- [11:23]
Alex Kaler
Someone said to me in the beginning years of my business that I shouldn't try to be everything because the guy who is the CEO of a toy company does not know how to build every single toy he's selling. And that really stuck me and gave me a lot of peace of mind. Because I think sometimes when you have these small businesses and you're an entrepreneur, you feel like you have to be able to execute every single task yourself. Yeah, it's just not realistic. At least it's not for me. Like, numbers are not my strong suit and the details of putting together a PO not my strong suit. I'm good at the big picture macro. Look at what a house is going to look like and how it's going to feel and how to make sure that there's a flow and how to execute and project manage. But I know where my strengths are and where they aren't. And so as I hired and honestly, even as I interviewed, I would say to people, I need you to come in and quadruple check everything that comes out because I'm not going to be the one to do it. I just know that about myself. And so I was very transparent always with my team that that was just never going to be who I was. And I also Learned after hiring, probably, honestly, I think I learned after hiring my first employee is that I am either going to be micromanaging and in it with you every step of the way or I'm going to be completely hands off and let you take the lead and execute and trust that you've got it. And the latter was the better way to run a business. And I realized that very quickly. And so the people who I worked alongside with were always self starters and people who were independent and driven and that way we could all really delegate and, and be as productive and efficient as possible.
- [13:15]
Caitlin Peterson
How do you look for that? I always feel like that, that self starter quality, like you can't ask someone an interview, are you a self starter? No one's going to say no. How do you find that person and how do you kind of recognize the qualities that are going to gel with what you need?
- [13:32]
Alex Kaler
Well, I think because I was really transparent in interviews with my management style, that could scare somebody off, you know, truly, I think, I think somebody who wants to be in a more collaborative environment is going to think I am not the person they want to be working with. And so I think that that helped just to have that transparency from the get go. And then also just getting a sense of how they talked about past work experiences and the parts of the job that they really enjoyed. Because I think there are a lot of designers who are, you know, who lead teams and do it in this really beautiful collaborative way and everyone sort of has their hand in every pot. And in the early stages of building a team, I think that that was my intention and I realized pretty quickly that we were just going to be so much more efficient if we all had really distinct clear roles. And of course everyone was willing to jump in and help wherever they were needed because we're a small team. But I don't necessarily feel that I need, you know, my accountant to be able to choose a fabric. And more than anything with a small team, I also really hired just for personality fit that we would all get along and enjoy each other and have a nice work environment. It was really of like utmost importance to me.
- [14:59]
Caitlin Peterson
At its biggest kind of how, how many people did you have on your team?
- [15:03]
Alex Kaler
So I said before that I had no real big long term plans of what I wanted the business to look like. But what I knew I didn't want was I knew I did not want a big team. And after having my first child, I think that really brought it home for me that I was not going to have 20 hour work days and I wasn't going to spend my life managing this team when I really wanted to be designing. And so that was something that was always at the forefront of my mind as I thought about the roles that we needed internally. And so at our biggest, it was five people.
- [15:41]
Caitlin Peterson
Okay.
- [15:41]
Alex Kaler
And that felt too big. I very, very quickly realized it felt too big. And I am an impulsive person. And when I felt like we were stretched too thin, I would hire. And that was my immediate reaction, was kind of, again, going back to that idea of, okay, if we're not doing it the way we need to be doing it, someone else can come in and help and make sure that we are doing it the way it needs to be done. And what ended up happening was that I would hire and bring somebody on and we would be, you know, super busy. And then all of a sudden there was a lull and I would realize, okay, this isn't actually what we needed. We needed to be maybe a little bit more streamlined or we needed to delegate a little bit. But having an extra, an extra person, an extra body is not. Was not necessarily the long term answer. It was, it was that quick fix. And so I was very grateful to have someone on my team who used to really call me on that. Her and I worked together for a long time, and we had a really open, honest relationship. And thankfully, she felt comfortable enough to say, hey, I know you. I know you're going to want to hire right now. Let's just take a beat.
- [16:50]
Caitlin Peterson
Don't do it. Yeah.
- [16:52]
Alex Kaler
Yeah. And in fairness to her, you know, she was the one who ended up having to train most of the time when I did hire people. So that was completely legitimate on her part. But it also was really helpful for me to have somebody help me pump the brakes and say, you know, okay, I don't need to be impulsive in making a fix for this. And let's, let's kind of feel this.
- [17:13]
Caitlin Peterson
Out, like, sit in the discomfort for a few weeks and see if it solves itself.
- [17:18]
Alex Kaler
Yeah. Which is something I'm. I was never great at. And I think because I was so customer service focused mentally, I was always worried that if we were stretched too thin, our clients would feel it. And I never want our clients to feel that they aren't. Aren't our highest priority. And, you know, I think that there have been times where that's missed for us and it hasn't hit how I wanted it to, but when it does and when, when they do realize how important every single one of our clients are to Us, that's when I know we've done a good job.
- [17:53]
Caitlin Peterson
I want to come back to customer service in a minute. But kind of thinking about that, that those early years of your business, what part of running your firm tested you the most as an entrepreneur?
- [18:05]
Alex Kaler
Oh, gosh. Managing people. You know, I think that I knew very quickly that I did not have the personality to be a boss or a manager. And if there was one thing that I could have outsourced more easily, it would have been that the one thing.
- [18:25]
Caitlin Peterson
You can't outsource kind of.
- [18:26]
Alex Kaler
Right, right. And so, you know, I think there were things that I got better at over time and things that were just kind of unfortunately true to who I was. But I am a creative. I definitely have sort of that mind of an artist in a lot of ways. And managing people was never comfortable for me. And whenever I would apologize to my team for my lack of management, they would say to me, if this bothered us, we wouldn't be here. And so that suited them. And then I could lead with a little bit more confidence because I wasn't trying to be the leader that I wasn't. I could, I could be, you know, sort of authentically who I was and still run a successful business.
- [19:14]
Caitlin Peterson
What part of managing people feels sort of at odds with how you naturally want to operate?
- [19:21]
Alex Kaler
I think that I am. It's funny you've never thought about this before. This should be such an obvious sort of follow up to me saying that I don't like managing people. But I think, I think what I don't like is that I'm so acutely aware of how different each individual person is and how things that maybe seem like so obvious or second nature to me, of course they're not going to feel that way to somebody else because we are innately different people. And I think when you have this business and it's your name on the door and it's your baby and you're so invested in it, you, in a perfect world, have this vision that everybody who works with you or under you or alongside you is thinking the way you are. And that's not human nature, that's not who we are. And so I think the idea that I would need to come in as a boss or as a leader and say, you know, I know you're looking at it like this, but I need you to look at it like this. That feels, it feels against my comfort zone, which I think is probably sort of silly of me. And maybe, you know something that I could get more comfortable with, but I think that I always found myself very uncomfortable trying to project my values or my perspective onto someone else. And, and I think as a leader, that is part of your job, just innately. And as a boss and as an entrepreneur. And I think that's what builds camaraderie and culture and some really important things. And for whatever reason, it wasn't something I could get comfortable with. And over time, my team, who had been with me for a long time, pushed a little bit on that and said, you know, let's create kind of a culture document. And so, you know, they, over the years got to know me really well and very much became mind readers and kind of understood the way that I viewed things and the things that would be important to me. But that's a completely ridiculous thing to expect of anybody. And I certainly never expected it, although I did appreciate it. And so creating sort of a culture document at one point was a way to bring in new staff and team members and say, you know, there are just certain kind of standards of how we interact and how just who we are. Yeah, and I think kind of putting that all down was really helpful to me because then, you know, I would say to people, I have an expectation of the way I want client facing emails to be written, and that expectation is different than how I would expect vendor emails to be written. But I also have an expectation for how vendor emails are written. And, and I always want there to be some perspective on the fact that we are not saving people's lives. And yes, I believe that we are doing important work much beyond just shopping for people's homes. I, I don't feel that what we do as designers is superficial in any way, but we need to have some perspective. And sometimes when people have invested a lot of time and money, that perspective is lost. And so we need to just always be internally aware of it. But then in the breath, like I said before, just have this really significant emphasis on the customer service and the customer experience. And I think when it came to culture, that was something that, once we started to really write these things down, that was something that was just so hugely important to me. I don't think I had always done the best job of actually articulating in words to my team.
- [23:21]
Caitlin Peterson
Do you still use that culture document? I mean, what does that culture document look like or what was in there?
- [23:26]
Alex Kaler
You know, it was pretty surface kind of top line. What the idea was that it would be something that would get people to pause and think. And these were also a lot of the fallbacks of me not having experience working somewhere else. You know, I think that had I worked somewhere else, I would have seen a little bit more of a formal onboarding process, and I would have seen what that training looks like somewhere else. And those things were just missing from my experience and from my background. And so it was really feeling my way through it and getting to a place that felt comfortable.
- [24:02]
Caitlin Peterson
Totally. Did you have people who joined the team who had worked somewhere else and were able to sort of bring that perspective?
- [24:08]
Alex Kaler
Yes, and that was a really valuable thing. What was interesting was that the people who worked with me for the longest were both people who came on as interns and then stayed. And so they didn't necessarily have experience somewhere else else. And what I realized was so appealing to not only me, but also them was that we could sort of feel our way through what felt good to both of us and a way of working that worked specifically for us versus bringing in what they had done somewhere else. And I always really liked that. It felt a little bit looser. It felt a little bit more tailored to who we were as individual people. But then when I would have have an employee come in who had come from somewhere else and brought that knowledge with them, that brought a whole host of new perspectives and ways of looking at things. And, you know, when I hired a bookkeeper who worked with other designers, and this was thankfully very early on, but she. She said, you know, okay, the way we're doing this is as if you're having a lemonade stand. We're gonna re. We're gonna. We're gonna rework this and we're gonna do it it this way. And. And like I said, thankfully, that was in the first year. But, you know, there were all these lessons that came in and, and some of them I felt really strongly just didn't apply to the way that I had built the business. And it was really interesting to hear how someone else was doing it, but it wasn't going to be the way I wanted to do it. But a lot of the time it was really eye opening. And, you know, sometimes it was as simple as how we were changing how we were billing for something or expanding our library in a certain way. You know, all sor of little things that I think just helped us be efficient and run more smoothly. And. And then the other piece of that that I am just endlessly grateful for is that I have a few different groups of designers who have become good friends of mine who are at similar stages in their career, who are just so incredibly open and giving with knowledge and information, and there is no gatekeeping. Everyone is so generous with their time and their knowledge. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've left those meetings with notes in my phone of, you know, a new resource that I want to check out or a different way that I'm going to bill for labor or whatever it is. They're just. There's so many learning opportunities. And I think that that's such an amazing part of this job and also such a tricky part is that there's no template for success. There's no recipe. Okay. If you create this and then you build this way and you keep growing and you scale to, then you'll be successful. There is none of that. And there are so many different ways to execute and execute successfully. And so part of the challenge is figuring out what success means to you individually, because it's going to be really different than the person sitting next to you. And that's in all areas of life. But it's definitely true in interior design. And I think that's where my most recent sort of reevaluation and pause came in.
- [27:23]
Caitlin Peterson
Yeah, well, see, because that definition of success can also change over time.
- [27:28]
Alex Kaler
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I think that pre me having kids, my answer would have been one thing. I think after having one child, it would have been a different thing. And after having two, a different thing. And after having three, definitely a different thing.
- [27:46]
Caitlin Peterson
We are taking a quick break to remind you about Serena and Lily. Their frames, your fabric. Members of Serena and Lily's trade program enjoy bespoke sizing and service perfectly tailored to any project. Use any one of their 17 design shops as an extension of your workspace, or collaborate remotely with their dedicated support team for high touch service and endless inspiration. Join Serena and Lily's trade program for exclusive prices, pricing, complimentary swatches, competitive lead times, and extended returns@serenaandlily.com Tradetale. Well, and I want to set the scene a little bit. Covet happens. Like many design businesses, yours explodes. And then what happens?
- [28:32]
Alex Kaler
And then I have my third child.
- [28:33]
Caitlin Peterson
Okay.
- [28:34]
Alex Kaler
Because I am just a glutton for chaos. You know, in fairness, at the beginning of the pandemic, I was right along with everyone else thinking like, this was it. This was the end of my business. And for, you know, let's say, six weeks, I didn't hear a single peep from a single person, a client. Long time it is. And I. And you know, keep in mind, during this time, my husband was still working full time. I was in the first trimester of my third pregnancy, I had two toddlers at home and, and my nanny quit and I was really in survival mode. And I had absolutely no idea what was coming in terms of growth. But all of a sudden, as the world started to kind of peel back and open up a little bit, I really quickly realized that I could not even begin to keep up with the number of inquiries and new projects and things that were coming my way. And so the first step was to say, if we have these incredible projects coming our way, the only way to start weeding people out is to say that we're going to take full house projects only, and so we're not going to do a room here and there. And so that was one criteria. And then I said, okay, well, if we're going to do full houses only, we need to kind of establish a minimum budget of sorts, because there are designers who can do a full house and do it really beautifully for X, and then there are other designers who it's 100x and. And so where do we fall? And that was a little bit of a moving target. And as our business grew, that number grew. And partly because materials became more expensive during COVID partly because my expenses as a growing business became more expensive, those two criteria in my mind were things that were always kind of a little bit of a pipe dream. Like those were. I don't know that I had necessarily ever written them down as, as long term goals, but they certainly were goals in the back of my head of doing full houses and having these larger minimum budgets. And so with the growth of COVID those goals became very real. And we had, you know, a wait list at one point of, I think, people who were waiting over a year to work with us and things that. It all came so quickly and it at such a pace that you didn't even have a second to take a breath and realize what was happening or.
- [31:09]
Caitlin Peterson
Think about it and reevaluate.
- [31:11]
Alex Kaler
No, there was no, there was no reevaluating. It was like, okay, this is, this is what I've always dreamed of. And I still have the small compact team that I wanted. And about two years into it, I felt like, wow, I've got this body of work that I feel really proud of and I've been really excited about. And that was when I decided to start having conversations about potentially writing a book. And that felt so surreal. That had always been something that was, you know, a dream, but so far down the road and to think that it was something that felt somewhat tangible. Was really, really exciting. And, and so in conjunction with all of this growth of my design business, I started to pursue putting together a book. And that's a very slow process, as anyone who's done it knows. And so it wasn't something that was going to come to life in six months for me. It had a two and a half year timeline and it was just, it was all of these things that felt like they were, they were happening and there was, there was success in a way that I hadn't necessarily envisioned having success. And you know, there was a point in my life where I would say I wasn't working part time, but I was maybe working part time and a half. And then when Covid came, I was working full time and a half and I really had to just keep chugging along. And there were years where I would make an effort to be done with my workday around the time that school let out so that I could pick my kids up and come home and have dinner with them and then they'd go to bed at 7:30 and I, I would pick back up and start working the rest of the night. The problem was that that wasn't sustainable because as my kids got older, they stayed up later and they needed more of me and I needed to go to bed earlier. And that was, I think, where I started to really feel very stretched thin and to feel that there weren't enough hours in the day and that I was sort of constantly running on empty. And one thing I found myself saying over and over again was nobody is getting what they need from me. My, my friends aren't getting what they need from me. My clients sometimes feel that they aren't getting what they need from me. And thankfully, I think, I hope my clients felt it the least because I was so focused on that customer service. But my kids definitely didn't feel like they were getting it and I didn't feel like I was getting it. I didn't feel like I was taking care of myself. And, and that feeling of, of being stretched thin is. It's a terrible feeling. And I think it really started to wear on me as time went on. And I think the things that had been important to me in terms of running my business were they weren't being paid attention to on my end the way that I wanted to because there wasn't enough of me to go around. And I started to think, you know, okay, we have all this opportunity and we have this amazing growth and so what is this going to look like? Because I don't Want to go on like this. I'm not happy. And it was one of those sort of quintessential things where, like, the outside looks great, the inside doesn't feel good. And, you know, I think anybody who follows me on social media knows I do really try to lift the curtain on mental health and struggles and be a real human being who is far from perfect. But at the same time, I'm running a business, and I want my clients to be getting the best that they can. And I really needed to think about what that looked like moving forward. And so for about a year, I was thinking about, do I hire more people? Do I maybe hire some higher level of people and some people who can come in and sort of I can delegate some of that management that I don't feel so comfortable with, or do I bring on a partner, someone who can help me scale in a way that maybe I had always kind of avoided, and somebody who is more willing to travel outside of Chicago and. And we can grow the business that way. And funny enough, I went to a doctor's appointment and. And it was just a yearly doctor's appointment. And I was talking to my doctor, who's a family friend of mine, and he's a man in his 60s, and he's asking me how life is and how my kids are and how work is and if I have anything exciting going on at work. And I said, I have this book coming out in a year, and I'm really excited about it. And he looks at me and he goes, honey, why do you feel like you need to do everything? What's wrong with you? And I adore him. And he said it in such a loving, affectionate way. I laughed, and I was like, gosh, it's really true.
- [36:17]
Caitlin Peterson
And that changed everything for you.
- [36:20]
Alex Kaler
It changed everything. And he would probably heal overlapping if he knew that that one offhanded comment changed everything for me. But it really did, because I think that there's this feeling, as a woman, I think, specifically where you spent your life thinking, like, I can do this. I can have this business, and I can be. Be this entrepreneur, and I can work my butt off, and I can be a mom, and I can. We can't be everything. And I think that there are some people who can manage having all those balls in the air really well. And then there's some people where you hit a wall and you just say, it's just too much. And I hit the wall. It took me a while to realize that I had hit the wall, but I did. And what that looked like for me was that I could still run my business, I could still execute for my clients, but I wasn't happy about it. I wasn't feeling like my soul was being fed by the work I was doing in the way that I once had. And that, for me, was a cue to say, I have to hit pause. I have to figure out what this looks like moving forward.
- [37:35]
Caitlin Peterson
Was it like, walk out of the doctor's office, make a change, or like, how. How long did you mull on it after that conversation?
- [37:43]
Alex Kaler
I mulled on it for a while. It was probably. It was probably eight months.
- [37:46]
Caitlin Peterson
Okay.
- [37:47]
Alex Kaler
But what I knew after that conversation was that I did need to make a change. And so I started to have some conversations with people in my industry and with my husband and my sisters and people who knew me and whose opinion I really valued. And I tried to sor what what a trajectory would look like that I was excited and happy about. And I knew that I was excited about my book, and I knew that I was excited about my client work, but I felt really, really empty with a lot of the other stuff. And I knew that at the end of the day, the thing that made me feel the happiest and the most fulfilled was my family. And so. And so I at least felt grateful that I had that clarity, that I knew it wasn't just, okay, I'm done. I'm walking away from it. But I had to really evaluate how I could do it in a way that felt good and sustainable. And the biggest thing that I realized in having those conversations and thinking a lot on my own was that intentionality was missing. Missing. I was growing, and I was riding that wave, and I was doing all the things, but I wasn't doing them with intention. And I really had to just burn it all down. And I think that as dramatic and ridiculous as that sounds, when I hit that wall, which ultimately was at the end of last year, that was the only option, or at least in my mind, it felt like the only right. I really felt that if I was going to make a change, it had to be then. And in retrospect, it didn't have to be then. I could have waited, but it felt important to. To take action. So I told my team before the holidays that I was going to be shutting down and that I would, you know, still follow through with maternity leave for my employee. And. And we weren't going to be, you know, laying everybody off effective tomorrow, but that moving forward, there was going to just be this restructuring. And I wasn't exactly sure what it was going to look like. And in those moments, there was part of me that thought, maybe I'm just going to be done, and maybe I'll come back to it in 10 years or in five years, but maybe the only option right now is to just close the door. And so we started to. You know, there were some projects that were really complicated to walk away from, that were really, really tricky and felt terrible. And there were some that it was really natural and a really good place to separate. And so that sort of undoing was a big part of the work for the first month. And then as the months went on, I was able to really sit in the quiet and say, what do I want this to look like? What is this intentionality actually going to be?
- [40:55]
Caitlin Peterson
Now, when you say undoing, I mean, were you finishing up some jobs, or was it really about finding new partners to take over those jobs?
- [41:04]
Alex Kaler
It was both. It was both. You know, there were a few projects where I said, you know, we've got a few things left on order, and we're going to see those through, and we're here for you. And all of your. Your project management and expediting and all of that that you expect from us will still be happening behind the scenes, but we're just not going to accept any new orders. And so that's what it looked like for quite a few of our projects. And then there were a few, like I said, that were a little bit more complicated, where I said, okay, you know, I will finish this portion of it, but I think it would be best to find a designer for a different designer for the rest of it. And I'm happy to help you find that person if you'd like. And so I connected the some people with designers that I knew who I thought would be a good fit. And, you know, ultimately, people have to choose who they feel comfortable with and who they click with. And, you know, it is such a personal, intimate relationship. And, you know, I can only go so far as to making introductions, but I think that it at least gave me some peace of mind to feel like I wasn't completely leaving them in the lurch. And so I was given this opportunity that I really am so grateful for that gave me the time to sit down and say, I love this job and I love this industry, and I love the work that I've been able to do, and I feel so proud of the work that we've done. And the book, in a way, I think, encapsulates that in such a meaningful way for me so I could take the parts of this job that I really love and that I want to keep doing, but also really work to identify the things that didn't feel good. But what I want to make sure that I do is that I am that much more thoughtful and intentional about the way that we execute projects and the way that we approach them internally. And I think what I've realized is that is a lot more of me, but at a smaller scale, which I never quite realized was possible because when I thought of more of me, it sounded like, oh, gosh, well, then there's more on my plate and then I'm stretched in even, even more thin. But in actuality, if I take on less, I can do more. And that was a wake up call for me and my. My hope truly. And like, I sound like a self help book. Like, I remember so distinctly when Ruthie Summers was. She was on in Domino every month and she was just like, the end.
- [43:37]
Caitlin Peterson
Yes, yes.
- [43:37]
Alex Kaler
Oh, yeah. I mean, everything she did was just incredible and inspiring. And she came out a few years later and was like, you know what? I've got three kids who need me. I'm gonna see you guys later. And I just thought that was so cool. And it's like there was no one saying, like, but you're at the top of your career. You can't step away now. You have all these opportunities coming your way. And, you know, like she just said, this is not serving me.
- [44:04]
Caitlin Peterson
Yeah.
- [44:04]
Alex Kaler
And I don't know her. I don't know the personal things that may have been going on to impact that decision. But I just think, think knowing that there are people who are in our industry who are doing an amazing job at what they do can still say, this isn't serving me right now.
- [44:24]
Caitlin Peterson
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- [45:04]
Alex Kaler
Oh, yeah, for sure.
- [45:06]
Caitlin Peterson
Is that a piece of it? Like, is the work so different now that it requires sort of a different setup to find the joy in it?
- [45:15]
Alex Kaler
Yes, I Do think it is different. And I think, I think part of that is an over saturation due to social media. I think that Instagram is this perfect platform for interior design because it's so visually engaging and, and I love it for that. And I've been able to grow my business thanks to that. And I see the value of it, but I also think that it really overexposes us. And it's hard to feel like you're coming up with something original or something unique when we are all taking in so much so often. And you don't have to be a designer to feel that way. You can be a client who, who feels that way. And I think a lot of my clients do. And I hear people say, you know, I'll present a Harlequin four to them and they'll say, okay, but don't you feel like that's really just overdone? It's like, oh gosh, a diamond pattern floor is as classic as it comes and should be so timeless. And so I think that we're very much up against that. And I also think that things have gotten so much more expensive. I mean, I saw an Instagram story a couple months ago that a designer took a proposal that they had priced out, I think it was three years ago, and, and he priced out the identical proposal now, and it was 40% more. Oh, and that was so striking to me because I think we've all been feeling that. And so people are spending so much more money. I think they are feeling the pressure of wanting something that feels unique and that they aren't seeing, you know, on their Pinterest or their Instagram feed. The timelines have never recovered well, and.
- [46:58]
Caitlin Peterson
Even I'm still stuck on that 40%. Even if you don't know what your job would have cost three years ago, you must have some sort of internal gauge of the sense of like, I'm spending a lot more and I'm getting the same thing.
- [47:12]
Alex Kaler
Yeah.
- [47:13]
Caitlin Peterson
Just makes you kind of feel sour from the start. For sure.
- [47:17]
Alex Kaler
Oh, for sure. I mean, I. My friend, the builder was telling me, you know, a house that he had built, I think it was maybe six years ago, he said to build the exact same house would be more than double now and not that much time has passed.
- [47:33]
Caitlin Peterson
Right.
- [47:34]
Alex Kaler
And that is just so mind blowing to me because our clients feel that. And you know, I think that everyone talks about the 1% not being impacted by all these economic hardships or changes, but it doesn't matter how much money you have, you feel that change yeah. And as a designer, and as a designer who wants to have trust between myself and my client, I don't want to feel like I'm gouging somebody I know what it cost a few years ago, even if they don't.
- [48:07]
Caitlin Peterson
Right.
- [48:07]
Alex Kaler
And so I want a value engineer, but at the same time, I don't want to compromise quality. And I think that that's a really tough balance to strike. And, you know, I've had times over the years where I've had to say to myself, I don't need to value engineer unless I am requested to value engineer, because ultimately they have brought me on to choose what I think is best for their project, and I've done that. And so if because of budget restraints, we need to make a change, then they will be the ones to dictate that. But what I chose for their project is what I believe to be best. And that expertise is what I've been hired to bring to the table.
- [48:46]
Caitlin Peterson
That's so hard.
- [48:48]
Alex Kaler
It's really hard. It's. And it's, you know, I think, think there's always going to be someone who can do your same project for so much more money and someone who can do it for less. And so finding that place where you feel, you know, you feel confident in what you're presenting and the quality and what you're presenting is so important. I think where the struggles now are, that sometimes I'm presenting you what I think is best, but then you're also paying a gigantic tariff on top of it. And so. So it's no longer what it should cost, it's just what it is costing.
- [49:24]
Caitlin Peterson
There's no way around that.
- [49:26]
Alex Kaler
No, there isn't. There isn't. I mean, you know, I love antiques and vintage, and I shop overseas quite a bit, and I don't see that changing. But I do have to do my work and communicating that to people that the prices of those goods are changing and they're changing almost daily right now.
- [49:47]
Caitlin Peterson
Right. That's unpredictable also.
- [49:49]
Alex Kaler
Right? Yeah, it's incredibly unpredictable, but it is, in the terms of the design, really valuable and something that I don't think is worth compromising.
- [49:59]
Caitlin Peterson
Are clients open to that?
- [50:01]
Alex Kaler
Yeah, they are. I mean, there's nobody who's happy when they get an invoice with these astronomical tariffs. Right. And it's happening every day. But I also think that we're all reading the same news and we all are understanding what. What we're up against, and so there's no way around it. And it's just. It feels like a matter of fact, because it is and that. And it can be disappointing and frustrating and it can unfortunately force people to reevaluate their budgets on for certain items. And that's just life right now. And I think that everyone is optimistic that those things will get sorted out in due time. But in the meantime, if we. We source a pair of mirrors from Italy, we're going to have a big old tariff that we have to pay at the other end. It's also really fascinating to see how many businesses are just sort of saying, we're going to eat this. Like we, we can't put this on you. And then businesses who are saying, okay, I waited so long to hold out and not pass these costs off onto.
- [51:04]
Caitlin Peterson
Our clients, but we can't make it anymore.
- [51:06]
Alex Kaler
And I so respect both sides the of of it. And I think that everyone is doing what they see is best for them right now. And I would never hold it against a company who charged for tariffs, but I am grateful for the ones who are eating it and happy for them that they have the margins that they can do that.
- [51:27]
Caitlin Peterson
What is the hardest part of being the messenger and taking those new costs to clients?
- [51:34]
Alex Kaler
I think that. That you have to put yourself in their shoes and remember that you would be frustrated with an unexpense too. Regardless of it being out of someone's control or not, or feeling like it's their fault or whatever it is that you're feeling. I think as the messenger, the most important thing you can do is to. Is to present it in the same way you would want it presented to yourself. I get that this is super frustrating and disappointing. Disappointing. I'm frustrated and disappointed too. And we're doing the best we can to avoid these things when we can. I think. I mean, I just think it's all we can do. You know, it'll be interesting to see where the year ends up and, you know, the growth, whether it continues to slow or if it amps back up.
- [52:21]
Caitlin Peterson
Yeah.
- [52:23]
Alex Kaler
And not to bring it back to me, but just to bring it back to me. I'm grateful to be in a place where. Where if it is a little bit slow, that's okay. And if things amp up, that's great. And, you know, I think that that wasn't necessarily the position that I would have been in before I took this pause. And so I think of that as a net positive.
- [52:48]
Caitlin Peterson
What does your job look like now and how does your firm look now that you're kind of like spoiler alert, like back in it?
- [52:56]
Alex Kaler
I Am back in was a short pause because I am a glutton for it, but I'm more in it. I am. You know, I'm there to show up when they come to measure for the window treatments, or, you know, I am pulling alternates for the fabric that's out of stock. And I think that sometimes those tasks feel menial. And maybe if I'm thinking about. About in this big picture way, the parts of this job that I love, those probably wouldn't make the list, but those do help create a really successful project. And so I think that it's sometimes breaking it down in a way where, okay, I don't have to be feeding my soul every step of the way, but I want to love the big picture. And so right now, the team is me and my project manager, who's been with me for a long time. Time, and we're feeling our way through it. And, you know, the. The industry is definitely quieter than it was the past few years, and that has worked out well for this sort of restructuring. And I feel really, really grateful for the projects that we're working on right now. They feel. I feel so excited about them and. And reinvigorated in a way. And, you know, I can paint this picture of this really meaningful pause that I took to reevaluate, but it was complicated, and I think I upset some people along the way, and it wasn't perfect. And I. In retrospect, I think that I would have been a little bit less impulsive in my decision to, like, as I said, burn it down, but I needed that. And I think over time, my clients will feel the benefit of it. And I just. I feel really, really excited about where we are, and my kids are a little bit older now, and so leaving Chicago is something that, you know, feels so much more comfortable now than it did, you know, when I had babies at home. And I think that. That having my book come out in the fall in a way almost feels like this opportunity for. I'm hesitant to call it a rebirth or a reintroduction because I think that I don't know that it is that in any sort of public way. I think internally it is a little bit of that for me purely because I was able to sort of reset myself and. And, you know, this job is hard, but it's also so wonderful. And I have been doing it for 13 years now, and I feel so grateful for the hiccups and the slow periods and the. And the. All the different things that sort of got me to where I am and this feels like just a part of that story. And I really feel so reinvigorated about the job and what it's going to look like moving forward. And, you know, I never. I never came out and made any sort of, like, public declaration that I was closing my doors. And I think that that gave me a little bit of space to sort through what the future looked like. And thankfully, we have new projects that are finding their way to us and. And things that I feel really excited about and opportunities that I may have not been open to before. And that feels really exciting. It feels just like a fresh start, in a way. And I think that I had this incredible team of people who really trusted my vision and who worked so hard for what. What my goals were, and I am so grateful for them. And now, you know, one of the girls who worked for me for a long, long time went out and started her own firm. And that's so exciting to watch and to see her sort of put herself out there in a way that feels meaningful and reflective of who she is now. And I think that there's just a lot of opportunity for new experience in all of this. And it's growing pains, but it feels really good. Good.
- [57:27]
Caitlin Peterson
You. You've talked a lot about how important customer service is for you, how important that client relationship is. Can you talk a little bit about how that shows up in your relationships with your clients?
- [57:42]
Alex Kaler
Yeah, I think that there are a lot of people who can design a beautiful home. Where I think that things separate a little bit, is when people can do it in a way that feels really good to their client. And, you know, I started this business coming off of my wedding, and I had worked really intimately with a wedding planner who was so incredibly creatively talented. And I was really aware of markups and collaboration that was happening behind the scenes and things that really came into interior design, you know, obviously in a different way, but they were very similar, similar constructs. And what I always was so grateful for working with her was transparency, but also just this confidence that I always knew that if something went wrong, she was going to work for me to fix it. And that is something that I really brought with me into my business. And I say to people, when we interview for projects, things are going to go wrong. They just will. And so what I need from you is your trust and confidence that we will make. Make it right. And whether that means it's something that was a mistake on our end and we fix it, or it was a mistake on someone else's and we Advocate for our clients to make sure that it's taken care of. Those things are so incredibly important in building trust between you and your client. And these people are inviting you into their home, they are having really personal conversations about the way that they live and you become really involved in their life for a period of time. And the only way that that's going to feel good is if you trust each other and you feel taken care of. And so customer service is really important. And I think that that makes all the difference in the world in these relationships. And you know, I want to spend my clients money like it is my money. And if there is an opportunity to value engineer without sacrificing the design, let's do it. That benefits everybody. And I think that that is something that I felt really early on. I just wasn't always sure how to execute on it. And as time went on and I saw the pain points for people and the times during a project where their patience was running thin or they were really sick of just writing another check, really being able to put yourself in their position and say, you know what, I get it. This just doesn't feel good right now. And be a human, right? You know, of course you're running a business and you don't ever want to be apologizing for wanting to be a profitable business. But you are still a human being and so are they. And I think always keeping that at the forefront of your interactions is really important. Important.
- [60:36]
Caitlin Peterson
I'm gonna switch gears for a second. Will you tell me a little bit about what we'll see in your book when it comes out in September?
- [60:44]
Alex Kaler
So for the book, there are going to be eight projects. Eight full house projects. Two of them people have seen before. One is my sister's home, which was published and I've shared a bunch, but it just felt so special that it needed to be included. The other is my old house, which I have shared before. But we re photographed it for the the book, which was really fun and special to do because I'd lived in it for seven years since I had photographed it. So it had lots more layers and so that's special. And then the other six projects are homes that I haven't shared yet that are new new projects that feel really exciting to put out and to finally be able to share. And one thing that was really important to me and this book was this idea that I am there as an interpreter of what my client wants in their home. And so there's a different feel and a slightly different aesthetic and a Different color palette for each of these houses. Of course, there are things that, you know, I'm drawn to and that you see maybe different iterations of in each home. But I really wanted them to be a reflection of my clients and not of me. And, and at the end of every chapter is a photograph of my clients living in their home, sort of anonymously. Not necessarily their faces. It's not a posed portrait, but it's just this sort of comfortable lifestyle photo. Because I think oftentimes you see these beautiful homes and you think to yourself, like, there's no way kids live in that house. Like, my dog would be sleeping on that sofa. And so you can see like, yeah, that's exactly what, what happens, you know, and that felt so important and that felt like such a meaningful piece of the book. And I'm so, so, so thankful for Phaidon and Monticelli that they, they aligned with that vision and saw the importance of it. And it's really, really special and fun to be able to share this and this, like, tangible thing that I have worked so hard on.
- [62:47]
Caitlin Peterson
Totally. How agonizing has it been to sit on all of these projects for this?
- [62:54]
Alex Kaler
So agonizing. You know, it. It has been hard for me and my PR team probably wants to kill me because I'm constantly like, okay, can we share now? Can we. How. How about now? Can we share now?
- [63:06]
Caitlin Peterson
No, no. September.
- [63:07]
Alex Kaler
Yeah, but what. I. And, and I think I never asked this question. I think I probably could have shared more of it. But I, I love when I buy a designer's book whose work that I like, when I can open that book and be like, oh, wow, I've never seen this before, versus, oh, I remember seeing that on their Instagram. And you know, there's going to be a mix of both in my books. So it's not to say that everything's going to be a surprise, but I do think that there is something really special about there being some work that is just. That just belongs to the book.
- [63:43]
Caitlin Peterson
I love that. How does putting out all of these projects this fall make you think differently about what comes next for your business? How do you expect your firm to evolve moving forward?
- [63:58]
Alex Kaler
It's really exciting, actually. And it feels like it lines up with all of these changes in this really lovely way, because I think that I'm at a place where, where I'm willing to take projects outside of Chicago and I am not spread so thin that we have a year long wait list. And I hope that by putting all of these projects out into the universe. There will be people who this work resonates with and that those people find their way to us. And I already have felt that happening. And I. I feel so indebted to our past clients and people that we have worked with who have trusted us in this really big, meaningful way to create a space for them to really live their lives. And I'm so happy that I'm able to continue doing that in a new way, in a different way, just in a way that feels brighter and happier to me.
- [65:06]
Caitlin Peterson
What does success look like to you today?
- [65:10]
Alex Kaler
Going to bed at nine? No, really, it does though. But I think for me, success is that I can feel contentment and that I can feel happy and that I can feel that the people who mean the most to me are getting the best of me. And. And that will. That will ebb and flow in what that means and what that looks like. And there will always be times where someone is not getting everything that they need from me because I truly don't believe in balance. But I think that is that terrible to say?
- [65:44]
Caitlin Peterson
No, that's honest. I love it.
- [65:47]
Alex Kaler
Yeah. I think that for me, there is no real goalpost. There is just this sort of ever evolving idea that happiness and contentment and success are always going to look a little bit different. But now, moving forward, I can really try to reach those things with a lot of intention.
- [66:13]
Caitlin Peterson
That's our show for today. Thank you so much for listening. If you'd like to keep up with the latest design industry news, check out new products or browse job openings, head on over to businessofhome.com and if you're enjoying Trade Tales, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the show. If you have a note for the show or a story of your own to share, I'd love to hear from you and you can email me@tradetalesusinessofhome.com Trade Tales is produced by me, Kaitlyn Peterson and Caroline Burke. This episode was edited by Caroline Burke and Michael Castaneda. Our theme music is by Kyle Scott Wilson. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you back here next week.