We recently connected with Jodi Shapiro and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jodi thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. undefined

The most innovative thing I have done in my career is to pivot and re-invent myself. I worked for 20 years in the fashion industry. I studied Fashion Design at the prestigious SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology. My studies were followed up with years working as a union costumer in film/television. The last 10 years of my fashion career were spent working for athletic brands ALO and Under Armour. Eight years ago I relocated with my husband to the Phoenix area. The relocation was related to my husbands career. There were not fashion industry opportunities for me in Phoenix. My first 2 years in Phoenix were spent building a home for my family from the ground up. I embraced and flourished during the home building experience. Much to our builders dismay I had my hand in all aspects of the building process. There were so many ups and downs and many tears during the 2 year build. In the end the house is EVERYTHING and I found my new calling. I knew that residential construction and design would be my new career path. I immediately found a builder to work for and spent the next 6 years as a Project Manager for a builder. Once I established experience and confidence my next move was to get my General Contractors license and start my own company JLS HOME DESIGN. My sister who had worked in the home design space before having kids became my partner. My role is to manage all the construction/operations of the company. Laura my sister manages all the design.

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

For readers to get to know me a little, I will say that I am a true Southern California Girl. Born and raised in Los Angels, I have always been influenced by the laid back Southern California beach and the contrast of Hollywood glamour. Growing up in a home where my family worked in the entertainment industry I was always influenced by fashion. I studied Fashion Design at the renowned Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. Although my time in New York studying at FIT was wonderful, getting back to the west coast was always on my mind. I worked for many years as a Wardrobe Costumer or Wardrobe Mistress, which is now a term of the past on film and tv sets. I worked on honing my fashion design skills during this time. Also during my Hollywood day I had the opportunity to experience the incredibly gorgeous homes of my employers and found great interest in architecture and interior design. Then I had the opportunity to build a home from the ground up for my family. This was a dream come true and I was able to take my fashion background and put that into building a home. I found I had a natural ability in bringing design elements together that were both interesting and purposeful. I was also very much involved in the day to day responsibilities of building our home and found I really enjoyed managing the trades and understanding the technical elements of residential building. During this time it felt like it was time for a career change. I found a job with a builder and would spend the next 5 years honing my craft before getting a Contractors License and starting JLS Home Design.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The biggest challenge in building a construction business is that all new leads are from client referrals and networking. The magic of SEO and Google can not be applied to this business model. People aren’t looking for contractors by searching Google.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

I have a monthly newsletter that keeps me in touch with my clients and allows them to see new projects JLS Home Design is working on. We have a great referral fee program. Anyone who refers a client gets a generous kickback based on budget of the project.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jlshomedesign.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jlshomedesign/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jlshomedesign
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodi-shapiro-76115426/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JLSHomeDesign