We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brian David Roberts a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Brian David, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
At 12 years old I determined that I was to be an architect. I read The Fountainhead, I practiced drawing in perspectives, even trained myself to write in all-caps like architects did. I practiced drawing houses and buildings for fun, imagining how people would work, live and move within them. In high school I latched onto architectural drafting and drawing courses. Even choosing to give up half my school day for an intensive off-site course: Home Building Construction, where myself and seven other like-minded kids worked with an instructor to build a home from raw land to sale. That was crucial for me…to know how a building was constructed helped with design & possibility dramatically. I charged into college excited to be in the last phase before launching a career…and was sorely disenchanted with what architecture really is. It seemed to be glorified drafting. Where was the functional design? How did we align the space to the user? How did we consult and proffer real information that allowed families to make confident choices resulting in a highly considered enjoyment of the final result? I was devastated. Architecture simply isn’t what I thought it was. After a search I transferred to another university enrolling in the Industrial Design program. I reveled in it because it encouraged me to design product and furniture that made people happy using them! I was in this program for two years and gobbled it up…but I still loved what I thought architecture was. So eventually I realized I should combine the two disciplines…creating homes and buildings that made people happy using them. Our version of Space Planning and Functional Design does precisely this in a dialed manner. My mission became aligning structure and the stuff within it with the lives of the family that will utilize it. The vast majority of homeowners move into or return to a renovated space where they then need to align their lives with the inanimate structure and stuff! That is crazy to me!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
We designate what we do The Art of Space Planning. It is an art driven by a design philosophy. I’m philosophical by nature and think things through to the logical conclusion…whether it is mere theory, generally accepted and utilized design dogma or supposed hard-fast rules. Design theory should remain in flux as it dials in, much like science should. A singular solution for an issue shared by many isn’t necessarily or oftentimes the right fix. A solution to a universal or personal aspect of one’s home should be individualized to align with that unique household or person. This is accomplished through proper consultation and a continual flow of un-biased information, designing WITH the client rather than FOR the client. With this even-keeled, specialized consulting and information-gathering the homeowner can then make CONFIDENT choices which invariably moves the design process further and deeper. We start very general, keeping the birds-eye-view decisions easy (yet powerful) creating a pleasing landscape within which we can focus with a pleasing cadence via a series of meetings…in that manner, the choices on the minutia become significantly clearer. At that point the functional details, rather than causing paralysis and anxiety are developed in a calm confident manner…it’s these details that render the aggregate experience living within their new spaces wonderful and effective. Unfortunately this process is unique…wherein the vast majority of projects are just as expensive but, although likely pretty, don’t work well.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
This unique company and process developed organically by focusing on the real needs of clients…this took some time precisely because we are unique. Nearly all homeowners preparing for a project, whether new home construction or a remodel, generally look three places: general contractor, architect, interior designer. As I would meet with potential clients I had to learn to vocalize keenly the reasons why our unique, new process would provide the better result. Despite my knowing that our company would provide this far better result, I failed over and over in articulating that…but one day it coalesced in my mind. Once I could convey the incredible power of our process…everything changed. Homeowners hear essentially the same thing from other designers…but what WE verbalized answered their fears, frustrations and hopes. If a company can truly provide that AND articulate it then success inevitably follows. From that point forward we have been hired 75-plus percent of the time…a far higher percentage than the average designer. Once I found my voice for what we offer this company no-longer was a side hustle but immediately allowed my wife and I run a highly successful company. And, our company now obtains 50-60% of our clients from referrals.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I was on a plane from Salt Lake City back to Seattle, having just met with a prospective client (they did hire us the following day), and I was lamenting about all the time it took to meet with clients at their home with the travel and traffic, preparation, gassing up, etc. It was 2018 and I was constantly away from home traveling about meeting people to discuss their designs. I was bored and thumbing through the airplane magazine and happened upon a short article about books written for small home-based companies and how to grow. One of the books intrigued me and I took a phone photo of it and forgot about it for a few weeks. One afternoon I opened my photo app to show someone something and as I scrolled through I saw that photo taken on the plane. Later I read up on that book and its author: Company of One by Paul Jarvis. Bought and read it immediately. Excellent, and a game changer for the way we run things now. It discusses the benefits of keeping one’s company small, instead of building it with employees and additional offices, at which point the company runs you. Jarvis writes in his book that if you want your company to make more money then instead get more efficient and raise your prices. So I delved into the biggest waste of our company which was my time. We found Zoom at the latter end of 2018 and implemented online meetings right away. Wasn’t sure whether my clients would appreciate it or not but soon realized they loved it. From that point I again had time to go mountain biking in the afternoon, work out in the morning and commiserate with my company and life partner, Virginia much more often and throughout the day….incredible! Then I raised my prices to give our business and ourselves a well-deserved raise. When the pandemic hit we were poised to continue in success because we had already solidified our business with online meetings.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://briandavidroberts.com
- Instagram: @briandavidroberts
- Linkedin: Brian David Roberts
Image Credits
website: virginiarobertsstudio.com
Instagram: @virginiaroberts