We were lucky to catch up with Emily “Bird” Lambert recently and have shared our conversation below.
Emily “Bird”, appreciate you joining us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?
I didn’t take my design work full-time until the summer of 2025, almost a decade after I first started dipping my toe into the creative world professionally.At the time, my wife and I had just moved to a new state with our two young kids for my corporate job. I was commuting two hours a day, three days a week. On top of that, we didn’t have any family support nearby making me the default parent for school absences (which, if you’ve ever had kids in daycare, you know is a lot), and I was also spending every spare moment installing and finishing our new home. That’s when Homeworthy and I connected.I had been sharing our renovation and design projects online for years, but this last one was major, and people noticed. Clients began reaching out for design advice and historic renovation guidance, even though I wasn’t officially offering those services yet.I simply couldn’t maintain the full-time stress of being a VP at a big bank, managing our house, and keeping up with my growing design work. So I decided to use the exposure from the home tour to catapult my design career. It was the first time it felt like it could be a real job, seeing how many people were willing to pay for my expertise before I even had a business plan.I always knew I wanted to design full-time, but I was scared to leave the comfort of corporate America and I knew nothing about owning a business. I’d been earning six figures since finishing my master’s in finance in 2016, and walking away from that stability, the income, and the benefits to spend money starting a business didn’t feel smart.But looking back, I wish I had done it sooner. Before the house, the kids, the responsibilities.. all the things that make the grind of entrepreneurship and the financial burden of launching a business so intense. Turning a business profitable and scaling it takes time and consistency, and if I had started five years earlier, I wouldn’t be hustling as hard to build it now.My biggest advice? There’s never going to be a time when it doesn’t feel scary, so just do it anyway. I was one of those people who thought I could start it on the sides, or do it on the weekends, and the reality is, you have to invest in something to make it grow.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m Emily Lambert, but all my friends call me Bird. I’m from Southeast Louisiana and I’m an interior designer, small business owner, mom, wife, and perpetual cleaner. I grew up around the industry. My dad owns an architecture firm, my oldest sister is an interior designer, and my mom and her sisters have better taste than anyone on the planet. From a young age, we were making tablescapes, cutting tree branches for baby shower decor, painting, and doing creative projects together.
But I was a math kid. I went to college for economics and finance, and I was so obsessed with logic that I never considered myself creative. It wasn’t until I moved into my first apartment and started decorating and DIYing that I realized how much I loved it. And it wasn’t until my first construction project that I realized how much logic and math actually goes into design… it turns out creativity and problem-solving aren’t mutually exclusive!
Birds Eye Design is a full-scale residential interior design firm specializing in historic renovations. We provide the bridge to the feeling of home. I work to curate spaces that are intimately you. I don’t really care about rules or trends, I want homes to reflect the people who live there and function perfectly for their lifestyles.
That is the biggest way I stand out; I don’t default to standard layouts. I take the time to learn my clients’ lives and needs. Coming from a finance background, I love efficiency, so I think deeply about how a room works for a family and how a layout functions in real life.
The other way I stand out is accessibility. Many interior designers have per-room minimums, which I totally get, but that’s far from what I expect my clients to have. I can be profitable and still deliver creative, beautiful design at all price points. My goal is to make personalized design accessible.
I’m most proud of my family and the roots we are laying down in our own home. I think that’s why I took this full-time. I want other people to feel emboldened to take up space and make spaces for their own families and stories, not just Instagram-worthy moments.
At the end of the day, my work is about creating homes that are lived in, loved on, and deeply personal. That’s the feeling I hope to give every client.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
A friend of mine, Sydney Blanchard, who everyone should know, hosts the CMO Hour, where she gives brand and marketing advice as if she’s part of your company. Honestly, it’s the best money I’ve ever spent. I had no idea what “brand” even meant, much less why I needed to market it.
In that call, she said something that stuck with me: the 20-year-olds on TikTok are not your luxury design clients. And while I don’t discount the importance of social media, I think it’s overhyped. Ten thousand followers means nothing compared to ten paying clients. So I started focussing on the media my clients would see.
Most of my clients come from word of mouth. That’s why it’s so important to nurture relationships and treat your people right, from clients, to vendors, to your kids’ teachers. As an entrepreneur, you are your brand, always.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I wish I had known where to go to get resources when I was starting out. The hardest part of launching my business wasn’t whether I should be an LLC or an S-Corp, it was not knowing where to go to figure that out. It took me so long just to sort through what options were available, from payment processors (Square vs. Stripe vs. PayPal) to bookkeeping software like QuickBooks, and the basics of setting up a business.
Once I found repetition and structure, my role as a “jack of all trades” narrowed, and I was finally able to focus on what I loved most: the design work.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.birdseye.design/
- Instagram: BirdLambert_
