We caught up with the brilliant and insightful James Garcia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

James, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

The short answer to that is Yes. Absolutely. But depending on the day, it can really vary in how I’d respond. Being an owner is an extremely taxing responsibility, especially if your invested in it on a personal and emotional level, not just as a passive investor. The weight of that responsibility can be overwhelming at times. Most of us got into the field we’re in because we loved, or at least were good at the service or product that we offer but as we expand our role in ownership you tend to get farther and farther away from the initial spark. And I don’t say that as a bad thing, it’s just the reality vs. the perception. To enjoy doing it, and not just stick with it out of need, which it seems most unhappy people are doing, you have to really get satisfaction out of the process of confronting and overcoming challenges. I liken it to an indefinite hike through a swamp. There are times where you’re knee deep in the muck, you’re dirty, and smelly, your legs burn from the resistance of the mud, but as you reach the other side and you hit dry ground you find that your legs are stronger and you can move so much faster because of that resistance. But when you’re mid muck, man it would be nice to just tap out sometimes. Ultimately, our job as owners is to deal with and overcome issues. That is a never-ending task and the sooner we shift our expectations to that reality instead of being overwhelmed by it, we can free ourselves up to thrive. Those moments when you’re in the muck though, its very easy to look at any staff employee you interact with in any part of your life and think how much easier it would be to not care, and question if the sleepless nights, waves of anxiety, and moments of desperation searching for an answer you cant find are worth it. And I think that mental escape is ok go through. And It’s ok for the entrepreneur life to ultimately not be for everyone. That doesn’t have to be a failure, it can be a part of your growth to what you are meant to do. Personally, I know I left the employee life behind for a reason. I found purpose in what I could create, and an itch was scratch by developing something that can give other people the chance to find their vocation and not just their occupation. The moments when I get to step back and observe our teams do what they love and what they’re best at, I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’ve been extremely fortunate to lead two incredible teams at our Interior Design firm Moniker Design Studio, and our General Construction and Custom Fabrication team Moniker Building Co. We’re part of a larger collection of businesses called Moniker Group that approach different industries through the lens of reimagining what hospitality means. We strive to approach all types work through the idea that you can serve others and treat business operations the same way as someone might experience hospitality through the traditional context of restaurants and hotels. The broader Groups mission is to create unique experiences designed to impact people through the virtues of hospitality.

Moniker Design Studio is a full service interior design studio specializing in residential and creative commercial projects. As designers, it’s our privilege and responsibility to translate the dreams and vision of our clients into a physical representation of both them and their vision. We’re entrusted with something very special in that regard, and safeguarding that vision and turning it into something they may never have been able to imagine for themselves is a responsibility we take seriously. Being hospitality-minded in our approach, we strive to create an experience for our clients where they feel heard and understood. We want them to come away from the experience feel like we really “got” them. Creating spaces like we do is awesome, and our clients deserve to enjoy that experience as much as possible.

Community is a core focus in everything we do. Coming together has a unique way of impacting people, and we want that impact to last long after they leave. We aim to create an atmosphere that holds a place in people’s memories, as they look back and appreciate the time they’ve spent there. This speaks to a deeper level of design than something purely aesthetic. And because we’re operators of these types of spaces, we have a unique perspective on the way people and their interactions can play into the design. The guests are a layer of texture and color to the design in their own right.
Moniker Building Co. (MBC) is the General Construction and Custom Fabrication branch of our company. The GC division is a recent expansion to Bend, OR and focuses primarily on residential projects and creating safe and impactful places for people to grow with their friends and familys. Our fabrication arm has built out custom furnishings and interior finishes for everything from high end residential to some of the top hospitality projects across Southern California for the last 10+ years. It was actually our original service offering, doing interactive art, installations for conferences, and events across the country. Operationally, MBC put’s an emphasis on organization, client interactions, and exceeding quality standards for the industry. Construction traditionally doesn’t have a great reputation for these areas, and we’re part of a newer movement within the industry to reshape that reputation and approach projects from a very collaborative and customer service-oriented approach. It has proven to be a very different experience for clients when we come into these projects with that hospitality angle.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I started with our group as an employee before I became a partner when we created an offshoot of our company, so my path to my partners was a little different than most. I met Ryan, the owner of our parent company Moniker Group when I was in college and a student employee for our business department. Moniker was still a side project for him at the time and he was mainly working for a non-profit digital agency and speaking on a panel at an event we were holding for the department. I bumped into him in a hallway and got to talking, eventually hearing about Moniker and what he was developing there and got invited to a tour of a space in downtown San Diego he was in the process of activating. I showed up for the tour and got a walkthrough of everything and met the rest of the team which at the time was a group of artist friends designing and building art installations for things like conferences and other events. At the end of the tour, Ryan asked when I wanted to start working. Unbeknownst to me, my manager at the business department had been working behind the scenes to set me up on a blind date of sorts with Ryan to join the Moniker team, so the job offer caught me by surprise. I was working 3 other jobs and in school full time, so I let him know I had to get some stuff sorted out first but would love to join when I could. The rest is history, and 9 years later after playing various roles in the company, here we are.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

This is probably the topic that I’ve found the most purpose in with my role. I’ve worked many jobs in my life, and had great bosses, terrible bosses, and great people that didn’t know how to lead. I’ve learned lessons from every single one of them. In the simplest of terms, in order to lead well you need to genuinely care. People see through the BS. If you fake empathy, and see people as a resource and not a person they will know. The challenge with that is balancing the health of an organization with the wellbeing of each employee and not letting one be at the determent of the other.

Most moral comes down to communication, shocking right? It’s human nature to fill in missing information with assumptions and those are rarely accurate. It’s also human nature to feel dissatisfied when lacking direction. This means being clear about the company’s core values, the expectations of their role, and consistent and timely feedback. Having a rhythm of meeting like one on ones and quarterly reviews helps your team know that they have time to discuss issues with you get direction. Being a leader and manager is probably the hardest part of the job if you care about the people, but I’ve found it to also be the most rewarding.

Contact Info:

• Website: Monikerbuilding.co, monikerdesign.co
• Instagram: @MonikerBuildingCo, @MonikerDesign
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-garcia-7479a938/

Image Credits
Halli Mckenna, Carlos Aranda, Nathan Conception